Cincinnati Printers League

In the Matter of CINCINNATI PRINTERS LEAGUE and CINCINNATI MAIL- ERS UNION No. 17, AN AFFILIATE OF THE INTERNATIONAL MAILERS UNION Case No. 9-R-1693.-Decided April 17,1945 Messrs. George W. Rosenthal, Ted Hanson, and Alfred Stahley, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the League. Mr. Edward J. Fillenwarth, of Indianapolis, Ind., and Mr. Walter J. Weissman, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the IMU. Miss Ruth E. Bliefield, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a petition duly filed by Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17, an affiliate of the International Mailers Union, herein called the IMU, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Cincinnati Printers League, Cin- cinnati, Ohio, herein called the League, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Robert Silagi, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 5, 1945. The Company and the IMU appeared and participated. The International Typographical Union, herein called the ITU, filed a motion to intervene on behalf of Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17, an affiliate of the ITU, which motion was granted. The ITU did not appear at the hearing, but in lieu thereof filed a brief stating its position. Because of the nature of the brief it was treated by the Trial Examiner as a motion to dismiss the petition and ruling thereon was reserved for the Board. The bases of the motion to dis- - miss set forth in the brief were presented by the ITU in the Post Printing and Publishing Company case, and The Register and Tribune Company case' and the Board discussed and disposed of these issues therein. We perceive no reason for repeating the discussion or for 'Matter of Post Printing and Publishing Co., 59 N . L. R B 1115; Matter of The Register and Tribune Company, 60 N. L. R. B. 360 ; see also Supplemental Decision and Order in Matter of Post Printing and Publishing Co., 60 N. L. R . B. 231. 61 N. L. R. B., No. 85. 595 596 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD changing the position taken by the Board in those cases and the ITU's motion to dismiss the petition is therefore denied. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Cincinnati Printers League is a voluntary association of printing and publishing firms in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. One of the principal objects of the League is to carry on collective bargaining ne- gotiations on behalf of its members. The League has been in existence for over 40 years and during that period has bargained collectively and signed contracts with the various unions with which it deals. All negotiations are conducted by a negotiating committee of the League which has full power to bargain collectively and which can, and does, bind individual League members. The following six companies are the only member firms of the League which employ mailers and are the only firms concerned in this proceeding: S. Rosenthal & Co., Inc., Roessler Brothers, Miami Print- ing Company, Peerless Printing Company, Methodist Publishing Company, Segal Type. All such member firms with the exception of the Methodist Publishing Company, which prints and publishes religious papers and magazines, are engaged in commercial and job printing. The principal raw materials used by the member firms con- sist of paper, ink, and glue. These materials are purchased from local jobbers, but approximately 100 percent thereof is shipped to the member firms of the League from points outside the State of Ohio. 'no following table indicates the approximate value of the raw materials purchased by each member firm, the approximate value of each member's annual sales, and the approximate value of sales resulting in the shipment or mailing of printed matter to points out- side the State of Ohio during the calendar year 1944: Purchases of Raw Materials Sales Sales out of State S Rosenthal & Co., Inc-------------- $350, 000 $900,000 $700, 000 Roessler Brothers___________________ 200, 000 600, 000 300,000 Methodist Publishing Company_______ 500, 000 1, 500, 000 1,200,000 Miami Printing Company_____________ 75, 000 150, 000 25,000 Segal Type__________________________ 75,000 150,000 25,000 Peerless Printing Company___________ 50,000 100,000 75, 000 $1,250,000 $3,400,000 $2,325,000 CINCINNATI PRINTERS LEAGUE 597 The League admits, and we find, that it is an employer within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, and that it, and each of its individual members, are engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the Act. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17, affiliated with the International Mailers Union, and Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17, affiliated with the International Typographical Union and the American Federation of Labor, are labor organizations admitting to membership employees of the Company. ' III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On March 16, 1942, the League and Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17 ITU, entered into a contract for a term of 2 years, ending March 1, 1944. Prior to the expiration of the contract in 1944, the IMU was established and a local chartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.2 On February 2, 1944, representatives of the IMU attempted to start negotiations. for a new contract with the League, but the parties agreed that they would not sign a new contract until such time as there was a clarifica- tion of certain issues in a case then pending before the Board.3 An- other attempt was made by representatives of the IMU to negotiate a contract at a later date, but it was then decided to withhold further action until certain laws of the IMU were ratified at a convention to be held in August 1944. Later the League informed the IMU that it would not sign a new contract until the IMU has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit and the IMU thereupon filed the petition in this case. A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hearing, indicates that the IMU represents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate 4 We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the League, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. s It appears that there are at present two locals in Cincinnati , Ohio, designated as Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17. One Local is affiliated with the ITU and the other is affiliated with the IMU 3 Matter of Cincinnati Daily Newspaper Publishers Association, 55 N L R B 571. 6 The Field Examiner reported that the secretary of the n1MU reported that it had 86 members ; that the names of 34 persons appearing on the report were listed on the League's pay roll of January 3, 1945 , which contained the names of 35 employees in the appropriate unit, and that the secretary of the ITU submitted a list of 67 names . The names of 6 persons appearing on the list were contained in the aforesaid pay roll. 598 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The IMU contends for a unit of all mailers employed by the League, which would include foremen, regular journeymen, appren- tices, extra journeymen and permit journeymen. The League takes no position on the composition of the unit, but stated it was willing to negotiate with representatives of any unit the Board determines to be appropriate. The ITU also does not dispute the composition of the unit petitioned for, but contends that the only appropriate unit for mailers is nation-wide. However, in this case, as in the Post and Register Tribune cases cited above, the ITU offers no evidence in sup- port of its contention, and the testimony submitted clearly established a long history of bargaining in the unit petitioned for herein. Again, we must perforce dismiss this contention as being without merit. Since there is no dispute regarding the composition of the unit sought herein and since it conforms to the unit which has been estab- lished by a 30- to 40-year history of collective bargaining with the League, we shall find that the unit as petitioned for by the IMU is apropriate. We find that all mailers employed by members of the League, in- cluding foremen, journeymen, apprentices, and permit journeymen 5 constitute a unit appropriate for collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em- ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay- roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. The ITU objects to permitting employees who are members of the ITU to vote unless, and until, they are no longer members of the ITU; objects to permitting mailers to vote, and to any determination which would acquiesce in permitting mailers to vote, on the acceptance of any organization other than the ITU as their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining so long as they are members of the ITU; and also reiterates its contention that the ballot should contain some statement that a vote for representation by the IMU will sever connections from the ITU. In effect the ITU, in the first two ob- " Permit journeymen are regular journeymen who have not completed the full 6 years of apprenticeship required in the trade, but who have , due to the manpower shortage, been given permission by the IMU to work as regular journeymen. The League's pay roll does not list any employees by this title , but the president of the IMU testified that there are such employees presently employed. CINCINNATI PRINTERS LEAGUE 599 jections, is saying that the Board should not permit any member who desires to retain his affiliation with the ITU to vote in the forthcoming election. Such qualifications on participation in the election are entirely improper. As to the contention regarding the ballot, in the supplemental decision and order in the Post case we stated that "It is for the ITU and not the Board to convince the mailers that it is to their best interest to retain their affiliation with the ITU," and we can only repeat this statement. In addition to the regular journeymen there are 14 extra journey- men working for the League. Of these, 10 are regularly employed 5 days a week by the Methodist Publishing Company and work 1 or 2 days a week for S. Rosenthal & Co., Inc., on a regular part-time basis. Three work regularly for the Cincinnati newspapers, and on a regular part-time basis for Roessler Brothers. The League takes no position on whether or not these extra journeymen should be eligible to par- ticipate in the election, while the IMU contends they should be per- mitted to vote. Since these extra journeymen are apparently regular part-time employees with a substantial interest in the conditions of employment with the League, we find, in accordance with our usual policy, that they are eligible to vote. There is one other employee, Covert, listed on the pay roll of Roes- sler Brothers as an "extra journeyman called regularly." This em- ployee is receiving a social security pension and works only 2 days a month. We are of the opinion that this employee's interest in the conditions of employment is insubstantial, and we hold, therefore, that he is not eligible to participate in the election. DIRECTION OF ELECTION By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela- tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Cincinnati Printers League, Cincinnati, Ohio, as representative of its member employers, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Ninth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period GOO DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid of£, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in per- son at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election to determine whether they desire to be represented by Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17, an affiliate of the In- ternational Mailers Union, or by Cincinnati Mailers Union No. 17, affiliated with the International Typographical Union, for the pur- poses of collective bargaining, or by neither. CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election.