Hearst Publishing Co.

In the Matter Of HEARST PUBLISHING COMPANY, SEATTLE POST-INTEL- LIGENCER BRANCH, EMPLOYER, and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF FIREMEN AND OILERS, LOCAL 193, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 19-RG-63.Decided May 10, 1949 DECISION AND ORDER Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Patrick Walker, 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-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Murdock]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. ` 2. The following labor organizations claim to represent employees of the Employer : International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, Local 193, AFL, herein called the petitioner, and Building Service Employees' International Union, Local 6, AFL, herein called the Intervenor. 3. No question of representation exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act for the following reasons: The Petitioner contends that the Employer's stationary engineers and firemen constitute a separate unit for purposes of collective bar- gaining. The Employer and the Intervenor oppose the establish ment of the proposed unit on the ground that it consists of employees who are covered by a presently existing contract between the Em- ployer and the Intervenor. This proceeding is concerned only with the Employer's operations in Seattle, Washington, where the Employer publishes and distributes daily newspapers at a plant located on Sixth and Wall Streets. This 83 N. L. R. B., No. 70. 449 450 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD plant is newly constructed and has been occupied by the Employer since its completion on December 7, 1948. Before that date, the Em- ployer's business was conducted in a building at Sixth and Pine Streets, Seattle. In March 1948, 10 months before moving to its present location, the Employer entered into a contract for a 3-year term which covered the Employer's janitors and elevator operators." The janitors performed the usual duties of such employees except that three of them also tended the boilers which heated and ventilated the building. For their firemen duties, which they performed in shifts for a few minutes each hour, the three janitors each held a fifth grade operating en- gineer's license as required by the city of Seattle. The contract between the Employer and the Intervenor takes cognizance of the additional responsibilities of the janitors who performed duties as firemen and provides that "any employee whose duties require that he hold an operating engineer's license shall be paid fifty cents ($.50) per day in addition to the (prescribed pay for janitors)." When the Employer moved to its present new quarters, it was re- quired by the city to assign only employees with 3rd grade engineer's licenses to tend the boilers on the premises. There are three low pres- sure boilers in the new plant which are used for heating and ventilating purposes although only one is in operation at a time.2 In order to continue in their jobs as boiler attendants at the new plant, the three janitor-firemen each applied for and received a third grade engineer's license from the city. These three men together with two other em- ployees who also hold third grade engineers' licenses now operate the boilers in the new plant on a shift basis. These five engineers are the group herein sought by the Petitioner. The requested employees work under the direction of the assistant building superintendent who also supervises the elevator operators and janitors. Their duties, like those of the janitor-firemen at the old plant do not require highly specialized skills. They merely check the boiler equipment every 20 minutes to see if it is functioning properly, and clean the boiler room. They do not make repairs on boilers. Whenever repairs are necessary, the firm from which the boilers were purchased is called in. The Petitioner does not dispute the fact that the contract currently in effect between the Employer and the Intervenor covered the janitor- firemen at the old plant. It contends, however, that the contract does not include the employees Petitioner would represent because they are a more highly skilled group than the classifications covered by the contract. We do not agree with this contention. Although more train- The contract also provided for its automatic renewal. 2 Only a small boiler is used in summer, and of the other two, one serves as a stand-by. HEARST PUBLISHING COMPANY 451 ing is required of an applicant for a third grade engineer's license than for a fifth grade license, it is not the equivalent of apprentice training. In fact, the janitor-firemen at the old plant were qualified to pass the examination for a third grade license after a few weeks' study. Moreover, the Contract does not denote what grade license the operating engineers within its coverage shall hold. It merely indi- cates that it includes employees who hold operating engineer's licenses. That the Employer's boiler room attendants held fifth grade engineers' licenses at the time the contract was executed does not, in our opinion, justify the conclusion that such employees with third grade licenses are excluded from the contract especially, where here, neither group possesses distinct craft skills. Upon the basis of all the foregoing facts, we find that the contract between the Employer and the Intervenor includes the employees whom the Petitioner seeks to represent and since this contract is to remain in effect until March 1951, it constitutes a bar to the present proceeding. Accordingly, we shall order that the petition be dismissed. ORDER Upon the entire record in this case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition herein be, and it hereby is, dis- missed.