Armstrong Daily Sports, Inc.

In the Matter of ARMSTRONG DAILY SPORTS, INC., EMPLOYER and UNITED OPTICAL & INSTRUMENT WORKERS OF' AMERICA, CIO., PETITIONER Case No. 1-RC-1222.Deided January 9, 1950 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Leo J. Hallo- ran, 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. Houston and Reynolds]. 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. a 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em- ployees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce 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. 4. The Petitioner seeks certification as exclusive bargaining repre- sentative of all routemen and pressmen employed by the Employer at its Boston, Massachusetts, office. The Intervenor 1 seeks to repre- sent the pressmen in a separate unit. The Employer agrees with the Petitioner that a single over-all unit is appropriate. The Employer is the publisher and distributor of a daily newspaper featuring turf news. In its Boston, Massachusetts, office, the only one involved in this case, there are 18 employees in the unit sought by the Petitioner, including routemen, 2 pressmen, and 1 assistant. ' International Printing Pressmen and Assistants ' Union of North America, Boston Printing Pressmen 's Union No. 67 and Boston Press Assistants ' Union No. 18. 88 NLRB No. 10. 882191-51-4 35 36 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD All the work of printing the paper and preparing it for distribution is done in 1 room under the supervision of 1 supervisor. The press- men and their assistants spend 50 percent of their time operating the presses. The routemen spend 50 percent of their time out of the office delivering papers. The remaining 50 percent of the time of both groups 'is spent on a variety of tasks which are supplemental to the actual printing work. Both groups work together stapling, folding, and otherwise helping to prepare the paper for distribution. Route- men frequently help the pressmen operate the presses and after they have done so sufficiently often, they may be promoted to pressmen in some one of the Employer's offices. Although the pressmen are skilled employees who are paid at a much higher rate than the routemen, the record is clear that their skills are not those of the usual craft press- men. The Employer uses a special kind of press and therefore trains its own pressmen who, as pointed out above, rise from the ranks of other categories of employees. In view of the foregoing facts, particularly that both the press- men and routemen spend 50 percent of their time working at the same tasks in the same room and under the same supervision, we find that a separate unit of pressmen and their assistants is inappropriate.2 Accordingly, we find that all routemen and pressmen at the Em- ployer's Boston, Massachusetts, office, including the pressmen's assist- ant, but excluding executives, office and clerical employees, guards, and 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. DIRECTION OF ELECTION 3 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 payroll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or Racing Publications, Inc., 29 NLRB 633. The Intervenor stated at the hearing that it did not wish to appear on the ballot if the Board should direct an election in a plant-wide unit. ARMSTRONG DAILY SPORTS, INC. 37 temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or re- instated 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 United Optical & Instrument Workers of America, C. I. O. 0