Jackson Daily News

In the Matter of JACKSON DAILY NEWS, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS' UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, A. F. L., PETITIONER Case No. 15-RC-280. .Decided October 24, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Andrew P. Carter, hearing officer. 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray]. 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 labor organization involved claims to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. The Employer contends that the Petitioner is incapable of serv- ing as the bargaining representative of the employees involved be- cause the foreman and assistant foreman of the pressroom allegedly participated in its organizing activities. On the facts in this case, there is no merit to this contention. The evidence shows merely that the two men joined the Petitioner, attended a union meeting, and signed authorization cards. There is no showing that they solicited other employees to join the Petitioner.2 Accordingly, we find that a question affecting commerce exists con- cerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 1 The hearing officer properly denied the Employer 's petition for consolidation of this case with Case No. 15-CA-193, an unfair labor practice proceeding, now pending against the Employer. The issues in the cases are not the same . Moreover, the Petitioner has waived any right to object to the results of the election directed herein upon the basis of the charges filed in the unfair labor practice case. 2 Matter of California Packing Company, 59 N. L. R. B. 941 ; Matter of Charlottesville Woolen Mills, 59 N. L. R. B. 1160; Matter of Comfort Spring Corporation, 61 N. L. R. B. 980; Matter of The S-P Manufacturing 7orporation, 75 N. L. R. B. 701. 86 N. L. R. B., No. 123. 729 730 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 4. The Petitioner seeks to represent in a single unit all pressmen and stereotypers and their apprentices in the Employer's pressroom. The Employer contends that pressmen and stereotypers are two separate craft groups which should not be joined in a single unit. There is no history of collective bargaining at the plant. The Employer publishes a daily newspaper. As is usual in the news- paper business, after a page of the paper has been made up in the typographical department, it is sent to the stereotypers, who prepare mat and shape it into a semi-cylindrical plate. When the plate is fin- ished it goes to the pressmen, who put it on the press and print the paper. In this plant, both the stereotypers and the pressmen work under the supervision of the foreman of the pressroom. For the most part, the work of both groups is done in one room; it frequently happens that pressmen do stereotype work and stereotypers help the pressmen.3 In view of these facts and of the further fact that no other union seeks to represent the stereotypers, we are of the opinion that these employees may properly constitute a single unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.4 Accordingly, we find that all pressmen and stereotypers and their apprentices, excluding foremen and all other supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. 5. On July 5, 1949, the Employer discharged assistant foreman Ghetti. An unfair labor practice charge has been filed 6 alleging that the discharge was discriminatory. The Petitioner has filed the usual waiver, stating that it will not base objections to the conduct of the election on any activities of the Employer alleged in the charge as violations of the Act. Therefore, in accordance with our usual prac- tice while unfair labor practice charges are pending, we shall direct the Regional Director to challenge and segregate the ballot cast by Ghetti, if he votes. His ballot will not be counted unless determinative of the results of the election. In the event that it is determinative, the final disposition of this case will await the outcome of the unfair labor practice proceeding. By allowing Ghetti to vote under challenge, we are not to be taken as having passed in any way upon the issue of his supervisory status or upon the legality or illegality of his discharge. , One former pressman, who is too old to do the heavy work usually done by pressmen, is now a stereotyper. Matter of The Bethlehems' Globe Printing Company, 75 N. L. R. B. 647. 5Matter of Jackson Daily News, Case No. 15-CA-193. JACKSON DAILY NEWS DIRECTION OF ELECTION 731 As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the 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 super- vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed 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 bargain- ing, by International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America, A. F. L. IV