McDonald Printing Co.

In the Matter of MCDONALD PRINTING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and AMALGAMATED LITHOGRAPHERS OF AMERICA, AND AMALGAMATED LITHOGRAPHERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 74, CIO,1 PETITIONER Case No. 10-RC-371.-Decided February 7,1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board Members.* Upon the entire record in the case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all the Employer's employees engaged in the lithographic printing process including the employees in the offset pressroom department, the camera and plate- room department, and art department. The Employer opposes the establishment of the unit proposed by the Petitioner and contends that the only appropriate unit for its employees is one that embraces all its employees. The Employer operates what is known in the printing industry as a "combination" shop : that is, a shop utilizing both letterpress and lithographic printing processes. Its plant is divided into the follow- ' The name of Petitioner appears as amended at the hearing. *Houston , Reynolds, and Murdock. 81 N. L. R. B., No. 88. 481 482 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ing 6 departments which are all on the same floor: composing, letter- press, offset press, camera and plate room, art, and bindery. The employees engaged in the lithographic printing process are all assigned to the offset press, the camera and plateroom, and art departments. These 3 departments adjoin each other and together occupy the entire east portion of the Employer's floor space. There are a total of 10 employees in these 3 departments, whose classifications include plate- makers, offset pressmen, artists, cameramen, and their apprentices and helpers. These are the employees the Petitioner seeks to represent. While the record shows a degree of integration between the operations of the Employer's various departments, there is virtually no inter- change between the employees engaged in the lithographic process and the other employees. Furthermore, the requested employees do not share common supervision with other employees.2 The Board has frequently considered the skills and techniques in- cident to the lithographic process and has held that, absent unusual circumstances, all employees engaged in the lithographic printing proc- ess form a cohesive unit appropriate for purposes of collective bar- gaining. The facts in this case are much like those present in other proceedings involving "combination" shops, where the Board has established lithographic employees in a separate unit apart from other employees.3 Accordingly, we conclude that the unit sought by the Petitioner is an appropriate one. The Employer and the Petitioner disagree with respect to the unit placement of the following employees : George Falcon: This employee was hired by the Employer 10 days before the hearing and since that time he has been working in the letter- press department. The Employer contends that Falcon should be included because he will shortly be transferred to the offset press de- partment. The record shows that the Employer engaged Falcon to work as an apprentice in the offset press department but because of an unexpected delay in the processing of certain jobs in that department, lie was temporarily assigned to the letterpress department. At the hearing, the Employer's superintendent testified that there was a job open for Falcon in the offset press department and that there was a possibility that his transfer would be effected that day. Under these circumstances, we shall include Falcon. However, if his transfer is not effected before the pay-roll date for determining voting eligibility, he shall be deemed to be excluded. 2 Although a foreman is normally in charge of each department , at the present time there is no foreman employed in the camera and plateroom department and the art depart- ment These 2 departments are currently being supervised by the plant superintendent. 3 Matter of Lord Baltimore Press Company , Inc., 73 N. L. It. B. 811; Matter of Foote and Davies, 66 N. L. R B 416; Matter of Roberts and Son, 71 N. L. It. B. 294. McDONALD PRINTING COMPANY 483 Elmo Weeks: The Petitioner contends that Weeks is a supervisor and should be excluded. Weeks works as a platemaker in the plate- room department. There is nothing in the record to indicate that Weeks exercises supervisory powers over other employees. So far as appears, he devotes all his time to his duties as platemaker. We shall include Weeks. Henry Swenson: Swenson is a cameraman who the Employer con- tends should be excluded because he is a temporary employee. Although Swenson was hired as a temporary employee and he is regularly granted leave 1 or 2 days a week to attend to personal busi- ness, it does not appear that his employment with the Employer is for a limited time. We are of the opinion that Swenson has an in- terest in the outcome of the election and we shall therefore include him.4 We find that all the Employer's employees engaged in the litho- graphic printing process including all the employees in the camera and plateroom department, the offset press department, the art de- partment, George Falcon,-' Elmo Weeks, and Henry Swenson, but excluding office and clerical employees, the janitor, the deliveryman, and all supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for pur- poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervi- sion of the Regional Director for the Tenth Region, and subject to Sec- tions 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were em- ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein- stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bar- gaining, by Amalgamated Lithographers of America, and Amalgam- ated Lithographers of America, Local No. 74, CIO. "matter of Bank of America, 71 N. L R B 342 5 Provided Falcon is transferred to the offset pressroom department before the eligibility date 829595-50 vol 81-32