The Rein Co.

In the Matter of THE REIN COMPANY, EMPLOYER and HOUSTON BOOK- BINDERS LOCAL No. 110 OF THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BOOKBINDERS, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 16-R-1821.-Decided November 14, 1946 Messrs. W. M. Streetrnan and Carrol Blanchard, of Houston, Tex., for the Employer. Mr. Robert 0. Anderson and Miss Myrtle S. Price, of Houston, Tex., for the Petitioner. Mrs. Platonic P. Kaldes, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Houston, Texas, on August 15, 1946, before Elmer Davis, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER The Rein Company is a Texas corporation engaged at Houston, Texas, in the business of commercial printing. In the course of its business, it receives each month from States or points outside the State of Texas raw materials valued in excess of $2,000. Each month it produces finished materials which are shipped and delivered to points outside the State of Texas valued in excess of $2,000. The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 71 N. L. R. B, No. 108. 677 678 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the Peti- tioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Petitioner seeks a bargaining unit consisting of all employees in the bookbinding department, wrappers in the shipping department, and the employees in the auxiliary bindery in the pressroom, including the floorlady and the foreman of the bindery department, but excluding the employees in the collating department and all other employees of the plant. The Employer agrees generally with the position of the Petitioner, except that it would exclude the foreman of the bindery department because of his supervisory status. As we have heretofore noted in numerous decisions, there exists within the printing industry a long tradition of including foremen in units of non-supervisory workers despite the fact that they possess supervisory status? Accordingly, we shall include the foreman within the appropriate unit. We find that all employees of the Employer in the bookbinding de- partment, wrappers in the shipping department, and employees in the auxiliary bindery in the pressroom, including the floorlady and fore- man of the bindery department, but excluding all the employees in the collating department and all other employees of the plant, 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 the pur- poses of collective bargaining with The Rein Company, Houston, Texas, 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 Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4, 'Matter of Leo Lichtenstein, et al., 55 N. L . R. B. 1429 ; Matter of Master Craft Cor- poration , 60 N. L R. B. 56 ; Matter of John Dickinson Schneider, 59 N. L. R. B. 1133; Matter of Service Printers, Inc., 54 N. L. it . B 1082; Matter of W. F. Hall Printing Com- pany, 51 N. L. It. B. 640; Matter of Chicago Rotoprtnt Company, 45 N. L. It. B. 1263. THE REIN COMPANY 679 among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been dis- charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be repre- sented by Houston Bookbinders Local No. 110 of the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining.