Minneapolis Star and Tribune Co.

342 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Minneapolis Star and Tribune Company and Twin Cities Newspaper Guild , Local #2, AFL-CIO, Pe- titioner. Case 18-RC-10280 January 16, 1976 DECISION AND DIRECTION By MEMBERS FANNING, JENKINS, AND PENELLO Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election issued by the Regional Director for Region 18, a se- cret ballot election was conducted on June 11, 1975, among the employees in the Employer's advertising department.' The tally of ballots showed that of ap- proximately 200 eligible voters 180 votes were cast, of which 65 were for, and 83 were cast against, the Petitioner, and 32 ballots were challenged. The chal- lenged ballots were sufficient in number to affect the results of the election. Neither party filed objections to the election. Thereafter, pursuant to Section 102.67 and Section 101.21 of the National Labor Re- lations Board Rules and Regulations and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, the Regional Di- rector transferred this proceeding to the National La- bor Relations Board for decision with respect to whether the office clerical employees are appropri- ately included within the bargaining unit. The Em- ployer and the Petitioner have filed briefs. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au- thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. The Board has considered the entire record, in- cluding the briefs, and makes the following findings: The Employer publishes the "Minneapolis Tri- bune," a morning paper appearing daily and the "Minneapolis Star," an evening paper appearing 6 days a week, excluding Sunday. Most of the Employer's approximately 2,600 employees are rep- resented in 14 separate bargaining units. Of the ap- proximately 600 unrepresented employees, some 300 are employed within the advertising department. The advertising department is divided organiza- tionally into five subdepartments: (a) classified, (b) retail, (c) national, (d) Sunday Picture magazine, and i Following a preelection hearing the Regional Director issued his Deci- sion and Direction of Election in which he concluded, inter ala, that a unit consisting of the employees in the advertising department was appropriate, excluding the office clericals because he found their interests lay with the Employer's other unorganized office clericals Thereafter, Petitioner filed a request for review on the grounds that the Regional Director deviated from Board precedent in excluding the office clericals from the requested unit The Board by telegraphic order dated June 10, 1975, denied Petitioner's request for review, but directed the Regional Director to permit the office clericals to vote subject to challenge. (e) retail dispatch? Functionally, the advertising de- partment is comprised of (a) outside sales representa- tives, (b) advertising phone room employees, (c) crea- tive ' service employees,' (d) retail dispatch department employees, and (e) office clericals. All advertising phone room employees- work within the classified subdepartment. All dispatch employees work within the dispatch subdepartment. Creative service employees work in all subdepartments except for Sunday picture magazine and dispatch. Office clericals and outside service representatives work in all subdepartments except dispatch. From 1939 to 1956, the Employer' s office clericals were organized in a companywide unit which includ- ed many of the present office clerical positions, as well as numerous job titles presently within the ad- vertising phone room and retail dispatch subdepart- ment. Since decertification of the companywide cleri- cal unit in 1956, the advertising department office clericals have not been represented for collective bar- gaining. The advertising department office clerical classifi- cation not only encompasses the traditional clerical jobs such as secretary, typist, receptionist, and file clerk, but also includes statisticians, customer service employees, proofreaders at the contract desk, and supply clerks. Like the advertising department as a whole, the office clerical classification includes a varied range of jobs requiring a diversity of skills. Clericals are assigned to one of the particular sub- departments. They have frequent interaction with their fellow employees in the subdepartment, while contact with employees outside the subdepartment is generally limited to infrequent encounters with couri- ers, or clericals from other subdepartments of the pa- per. The clericals' work is directly related to their particular subdepartment's overall function and is es- sential to its final production. Immediate supervision and direction of work occurs on the subdepartment level, as does the initial work appraisal used in evalu- ations for wage increases and promotions. In furtherance of the Employer's policy of promo- tion from within, vacancies in clerical positions, as well as other positions within the advertising depart- ment and throughout the paper, are filled through a posting procedure. Unlike other advertising employ- ees who are under a intradepartmentally managed pay system, the clericals are under a pay system ap- plicable to all of the Employer's unrepresented office clericals and administered by the personnel depart- 2 The retail dispatch employees, who are separately organized and are currently represented for collective-bargaining purposes by the Internation- al Typographical Union, Minneapolis Local 42, were not sought by Peti- tioner to be included within the bargaining unit 3 This group consists of artists, copy writers, and makeup employees in- volved in the creation and preparation of the advertisements 222 NLRB No. 50 MINNEAPOLIS STAR AND TRIBUNE CO. meat. This system provides for five pay scales with set minimum and maximum levels. Subject to the guidelines of this separate pay system, an advertising clerical's specific pay level is determined by his or her subdepartment supervisor on the basis of the clerical's experience and work performance. While the clerical's orientation and initial training is con- ducted through a centralized training program ad- ministered by the supervisor of operations and ad- ministration, his or her specialized training course occurs^on the subdepartment level. The office clericals have vacation, sick leave, holi- day, and holiday pay benefits similar to those of other advertising department employees. Except for unusual hours required in the advertising phone room (8 a.m.-9 p.m.) the clericals work hours similar to those of other advertising employees (basically 8 a.m.-5 p.m.). Job skills required of clericals are simi- lar to those of phone room employees who are in- cluded within the unit. Evidence indicates that occa- sionally a clerical performs work done by those concededly within the unit, receiving the applicable commission incentives (i.e., upon completion of her daily work, a statistician sits as a voluntary operator; when the phone room is unusually busy, copy desk girls assist in taking calls). At times, unit members perform clerical work (e.g., during inactive phone room hours, operators have stuffed envelopes, served as receptionist, filed, etc.). The Regional Director excluded the office clericals from the advertising department unit because he found that their interests lay with Employer's other unrepresented office clericals. The Employer asserts that the Regional Director's conclusion was proper. Petitioner, on the other hand, contends that the ex- clusion of the office clericals from the requested unit is contrary to Board precedent. Therefore, Petitioner urges their inclusion within the unit and that chal- lenges to the ballots cast by office clericals be over- ruled. We find merit in the Petitioner's argument. As the Regional Director found, it is well estab- lished that a departmentwide unit of nonmechanical employees in the newspaper industry is appropriate 4 However, the composition of the requested unit in each case must be reviewed in light of the particular facts peculiar to that unit, to determine whether clas- sifications in question share a sufficient community of interest to be included. Upon the evidence detailed above, we find that the office clericals share a substantial community of in- terest with the other advertising department employ- 4 The Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Company and Telegram Publishing Company, 92 NLRB 1411 (1951); The Constitution Publishing Company, 81 NLRB 614 (1949); Indianapolis Newspapers, Inc, and/or Star Publishing Company, 83 NLRB 407 (1949) 343 ees. Their work, supervision, interaction, specialized training, and recommendations for wage increases and promotions, as set forth above, all occur in the subdepartments within the advertising department. Additionally, holiday, sick leave, and vacation bene- fits are similar to those of other advertising employ- ees, as are their working hours. We find, therefore that office clericals have a substantial community of interest with fellow subdepartment employees who are included in the bargaining unit and that the of- fice clericals are appropriately included within the bargaining unit. Accordingly we shall direct the Re- gional Director to open and count the ballots which were challenged on the basis of the voters' clerical status. Apart from the general challenge to office cleri- cals, the ballots of Marion Berger and Ida Hultgren were challenged on the basis that they are confiden- tial employees. The record discloses that Berger and Hultgren are statisticians and have essentially the same job functions and responsibilities. Both main- tain daily records of the advertising lineage sold by salesmen and certain phone room employees, de- termine whether quotas have been met, and figure monthly bonuses to be received by the employees working under the incentive system. Berger testified that her job did not involve labor relations in any manner. The Board has limited the term "confidential" to those employees who assist and act in a confidential capacity to persons who formulate, determine, or ef- fectuate management policies with regard to labor relations.' There is no evidence that Berger and Hult- gren act in such a capacity. Accordingly, we overrule the challenges to their ballots and shall direct the Regional Director to open and count said ballots. At the preelection hearing the parties stipulated that Robert Huebscher is a supervisor. Accordingly, we sustain the challenge to his ballot. With regard to ballots cast by office clerical em- ployees challenged also on the grounds that they are "confidential" employees and for other reasons, we find the record is insufficient to enable us to rule on said challenges at this time. Therefore, if these unre- solved challenged ballots prove to be determinative, we shall direct the Regional Director to take appro- priate action to resolve them. DIRECTION It is hereby directed that the Regional Director for Region 18, shall, pursuant to the Board's Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, within 10 days of 5 Ladish Co, 178 NLRB 90 (1969), The B F Goodrich Company, 115 NLRB 722 (1956). 344 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the date of this Decision and Direction, open and count the ballots of Joanne Bachler, Kenya Black- well, Marion Berger, Sue Gustafson, Lynn Healy, Mary Hertzeld, Dianne Hodges, Ida Hultgren, Jean Johnson, Kathy Martin, Judith Moltzan, Steve Oien, Shirley Pederson, Diane Rains, Tracey Reickert, Elizabeth Reksten, Janet Rovick, Larae Rugnoden, Bernice Siewert, and Martha Wood, and thereafter prepare and cause to be served on the parties a re- vised tally of ballots, including therein the count of said ballots. In the event that the revised tally of bal- lots shows that the remaining unresolved challenged ballots are not determinative of the election results, the Regional Director shall issue the appropriate cer- tification. However, in the event that the revised tally of bal- lots shows the remaining challenged ballots of Wil- lard Anderson, Barbara Boike, Susan Combs, Bonnie Conley, Carter Ellis, Jodie LaPorte, Gladys Malone, Karen Manners, Gunn Rorvick, Marie Uhlig, and Deanna Wallace are determinative the Regional Di- rector shall undertake an investigation to resolve these challenges, including the conducting of a hear- ing, if necessary, and shall issue a Supplemental De- cision with regard to the status of these remaining challenged ballots.