Suburban Newspaper Publications, Inc.

154 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Suburban Newspaper Publications, Inc. and San Jose Newspaper Guild, Local 98, The Newspaper Guild, AFL-CIO, and Bay Area Typographical Union No. 21, International Typographical Union, AFL-CIO, Joint Petitioners. Case 20-RC-13319 September 28, 1976 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS By MEMBERS JENKINS, PENELLO, AND WALTHER Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Charles H. Pernal, Jr. Pursuant to Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, this case was transferred by direction of the Regional Di- rector for Region 20 to the National Labor Relations Board for decision. Thereafter, the Employer filed a brief. 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 reviewed the Hearing Officer's rul- ings made at the hearing and finds that they are free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this proceeding, the Board finds: 1. The parties stipulated and we find that the Em- ployer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein. 2. The labor' organizations involved claim to rep- resent certain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concern- ing the representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and 2(6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Employer, in addition to doing commercial job printing, publishes 11 weekly suburban newspa- pers' in the southern San Francisco Bay area, pri- marily in Santa Clara County. Joint Petitioners seek to represent a unit of all advertising, editorial, busi- ness office, inside circulation, and composing room employees; excluding all pressmen and platemaking employees (who are currently represented by a dif- ferent labor organization), mailroom employees, out- 1 The Los Altos Town Crier, the Campbell Press, the Cupertino Courier, the Sunnyvale Scribe, the Santa Clara Sun, the Milpitas Post, the San Jose Sun, the East San Jose Sun, the South San Jose Sun, and the Almaden Sun have news content, the Mountain View Sun has no editorial content but is an advertiser side circulation employees, guards, and supervisors. The Employer contends that the unit sought is inap- propriate and urges the Board to direct elections in two separate units: (1) All nonmechanical employees including editorial, advertising,` business office, and inside and outside circulation employees; and (2) all composing room employees. The Employer would include mailroom and bind- ery employees in the nonmechanical unit; Joint Peti- tioners would exclude them. The Joint Petitioners would include editors of the individual newspapers, the two sports editors, the credit manager, and the marketing and promotions director; the Employer would exclude them as managerial employees and supervisors. Supervisory status of a number of indi- viduals is also contested. In overall charge of the newspapers are Morton Levine, the executive editor, and Elaine Levine, the publisher. The Employer's main office and plant is in Cupertino, California. It also maintains offices in Campbell, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Milpitas, and Santa Clara. Each newspaper has an editor generally re- sponsible for the news and editorial content of the individual newspapers. The editors write news stories and editorials. Most have either full- or, part-time reporters to work along- side them; some newspapers have no reporters as such. There are also reporters whose material ap- pears in several or all of the newspapers. The Em- ployer employs two sports editors who split the news- papers between them. One works with a full-time reporter; the other shares a reporter with an individ- ual newspaper. Individual' newspapers use outside neighborhood columnists (spot employees) who con- tribute news stories on local events. Sports editors receive news stories on athletic events from student "stringers" who are paid a small sum per article. In addition, an entertainment section, the Marquee, is prepared under the direction of Aleta Watson. The Employer also has four photographers who work out of the Milpitas office. Photographers are scheduled for specific blocks of time for the individual newspa- pers. Either an editor or someone else on the individ- ual newspaper will make an assignment to the ' pho- tographer, either in writing or in conversation. In some cases, the editor has a voice in choosing the picture, and sometimes there are only verbal instruc- tions. Photographs are processed in the Milpitas' pho- to lab. Editorials, which are written primarily by individu- al editors but on occasion by reporters, are sent to the Cupertino office for review by the executive edi- tor. News items are sent to the central copy room in Cupertino. Photographs are sent to the copy room from the photo lab. Sports editors do their own copy 226 NLRB No. 23 SUBURBAN NEWSPAPER PUBLICATIONS, INC. 155 work and send the material to the composing room. There are three full-time employees and one part- time employee in the copy room which is located in Cupertino. They edit stories, write headlines for the stories, assemble and lay out all the material that goes into the newspapers in accord with general in- structions from the editors, dummy pages, and send the completed dummies to the composing room. Generally speaking, the newspapers fall together by this process. Commercial display advertising and classified ad- vertising is supervised by Jack Young, who also su- pervises the dispatch department and the ad service department. There are 10 display ad sales persons working out of various offices who solicit and service commercial advertising accounts. Classified advertis- ing has four sales persons working in Cupertino and two in Los Altos. The ad service employees of the department process advertising copy, make up dum- mies for the various advertisements, check the dum- mied ads to make sure nothing is left out, and check the pages to see that the ads are correct. They also make sure copies of the ads-tearsheets-are sent to customers along with the bill, keep track of advertis- ing inches, write letters, and gather information for the salesmen. The dispatch department is a messen- ger service for display advertising customers. Dummied news stories and editorials and dum- mied advertisements are sent to the composing room, which is located in Cupertino in a separate room near the copy room. The purpose of the composing room is to translate reporters' manuscripts, advertis- ing copy, and ad salesmen's layouts into material to be photographed for making plates for printing the newspapers. The composing room consists of type- setting, ad makeup, page makeup, proofreading, and camera departments. Type is set on computerized keyboards, runs through photocomposing units, and comes out in long galleys. Galleys are then waxed, trimmed, and proofread. After corrections are made, the galleys are sorted by numbers supplied by the copy desk, headlines are matched to stories, and the material is, together with advertisements, made up sheets for the camera department. Advertisements are separately made up by, ad artists who use either original art, a compugraphic typesetting machine, or camera ready art "furnished by the advertiser. Page makeup is where the editorial material comes togeth- er with the ads, Once the material is made up, it is sent to camera which prepares lithophotos for mak- ing plates. The photos are then sent to platemaking and printing. The circulation department is headquartered in Cupertino. Most of the newspapers are distributed house-to-house by carrier boys, who receive their newspapers either from district managers or truck- drivers. There are also route checkers, part-time em- ployees, who make sure that newspapers are properly delivered. The work of the so-called inside circula- tion department consists of maintaining records on subscriptions and taking complaints. There are also part-time employees who -make spot telephone checks with subscribers to see if the papers have been delivered and if the subscribers noticed a particular advertisement. The Employer also employs mailroom employees who recently voted in a Board election in a unit of the mailroom-bindery department employees.' The Employer also has accounting and office employees. The first issue to be decided in this case concerns the scope of the unit-whether mechanical and non- mechanical employees may be included in the same unit. The Petitioner would include news-editorial, of- fice, and circulation employees in the same unit with the composing room employees. In the newspaper industry, however, mechanical employees have been separately represented from nonmechanical employ- ees. Mechanical employees traditionally have been separately represented by crafts, and the Board usu- ally finds appropriate separate units of various me- chanical craftsmen. American-Republican, Incorporat- ed, 171 NLRB 43 (1968). Although mechanical craftsmen have been included in the units with other meachnical craftsmen, they have not, traditionally, been included in units with nonmechanical employ- ees. Although some editors, copy room employees, and ad salespersons have occasion to go into the compos- ing room, the composing room employees work in a single enclosed area, use special equipment, and per- form distinct operations requiring special skills. Joint Petitioners argue that the craft distinctions have been blurred because the Employer's typesetting opera- tions are considerably simpler than traditional meth- ods of typesetting. Although the Employer uses photocomposition machines which turn out photoprinted galleys, the fact remains that compos- ing room employees perform the traditional craft functions of putting the editorial and advertising content of the newspapers into form ready for print- ing. The operators of the typesetting machines, the camera, and the stripper perform the functions his- torically performed by typesetters putting type ,into chases. The advertising layout artists, the proofread- ers, and the pasteup artists work in the composing room under composing room supervision and per- form duties which are intimately related to the com- posing room functions. Pasteup is a mechanical func- 2 Case 20-RC-12759. 156 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD tion. Garden Island Publishing Co., Ltd., 154 NLRB 697, 700-701 (1965). For these reasons we find that the combined unit sought by the Joint Petitioners is inappropriate and shall direct elections in separate units of mechanical employees and nonmechanical employees. The mechanical unit shall consist of all composing room employees.' Although the optimum nonmechanical unit in the newspaper industry is a unit of all nonmechanical employees, a combined unit of employees doing sim- ilar or coordinated work, which does not include all nonmechanical employees, may be found appropri- ate. Lowell Sun Publishing Company, 132 NLRB 1168 (1961). The mailroom employees participated in a Board election on July 1, 1975, within the 12 months prior to the hearing. The Employer seeks to include them in the nonmechanical unit if the petitioner therein is not certified as bargaining representative. A Board decision 4 issued on July 7, 1976, and the results of the election were certified on July 21, 1976. Mail- room employees in the newspaper industry are a well-defined functionally distinct group who have been traditionally represented on a separate depart- mental basis. The Bakersfield Californian 152 NLRB 1683 (1965). Specifically, the Employer's mailroom employees have been found to constitute a separate unit. Accordingly, we shall not include them in the nonmechanical unit. As indicated above, the Joint-Petitioners would in- clude only the inside circulation employees in the ap- propriate unit. The Employer urges the Board to also include the outside circulation employees. The out- side circulation employees fall within a category which the Board traditionally recognizes as a sepa- rate appropriate unit. El Mundao, Inc., 167 NLRB 760 (1967). Accordingly, we find that the outside cir- culation employees are excludable from the unit. The inside circulation ' employees-file clerks who main- tain subscription records and phone checkers who canvass to verify delivery and ask about advertise- ments=come into contact with advertising and edi- torial employees, work in the same buildings, and share the same facilities. Accordingly, we shall in- clude them ifi the nonmechanical unit. The Employer contends that the editors of the in- dividual newspapers 5 are supervisors and managerial employees and should be excluded from the unit. 3 Excluding pressmen and platemen who are separately represented. 4 Suburban Newspapers Publications, Inc, Case 20-RC-12759 (unpub- lished). 5 There are eight editors' Doris Shepard, Los Altos Town Crier, Pat Staf- ford, Campel Press; Sue Beving, Cupertino Courier, Jim Barrett, Sunnyvale Scribe; Carolyn Leal, Santa Clara Sun, Janice Bridges, Milpitas Post, Tom Gilsenan, East San Jose Sun; and Aleta Watson, San Jose Sun, South San The Employer contends that their supervisory au- thority lies in assigning work to reporters and in rec- ommending the hiring and firing of employees. The Employer states in its brief, "The editors have similar responsibilities and duties." The editors are primarily engaged in covering and writing news stories which appear in their newspa- pers. They also come up with additional material to fill the newspapers and designate story placement, particularly with respect to lead stories. At least one of the editors had no reporter to assist her. On those newspapers which have either full- or part-time re- porters, the coverage of particular stories is ordinari- ly worked out in cooperation between editor and re- porter. Many reporter stories are self-generated, and reporters work largely independently. There is no ap- parent distinction between the method of payment for reporters and editors. The record as a whole shows that the relationship between editors and re- porters is cooperative and informal. Any direction of a reporter's work by an editor is more akin to that given by a leadman' than that by a supervisor. Ac- cordingly, we find that editors do not responsibily direct reporters in their v'ork within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Act. Although the executive editor testified that certain editors hired reporters, the record when viewed as a whole shows that editors do not have authority to hire and exercise very little influence on personnel assignment. For example, editors have complained to the executive editor that they need more reportorial assistance. In asking for such help they may point out that a particular reporter, is available and wants to work more time. However, the record is clear that the decisions have been made by the executive edi- tor. A number of such efforts by individual editors have been fruitless. Editors do not have authority to fire reporters, and they evaluate the performances of reporters only on an informal basis. Meetings with the executive editor to assure uniformity of policy are attended by both editors and reporters. Accordingly, we find that the editors are employees within the meaning of the Act. The Employer contends that editors write un- signed editorials expressing their own ideas as those of the individual newspapers and are therefore man- agerial employees. However, the record shows that editors routinely submit proposed editorials to the publisher or executive editor for approval before printing. Often editorials, I particularly those endors- ing candidates for office, will be discussed with the executive editor before they are finally written. Al- though the individual editors generally have few con- Jose Sun, and Almaden Sun. Aleta Watson also is involved in the prepara- tion of the "Marquee" entertainment section. SUBURBAN NEWSPAPER PUBLICATIONS, INC. 157 flicts with the policy of the executive editor and the publisher, there have been times when the executive editor or publisher has made changes on editorials, on occasion without consulting with the editors. Ac- cordingly, we find that the editors are not managerial employees within the meaning of the Act and shall include them in the nonmechanical unit. The Employer also contends that the two sports editors, Louis Lucia and Richard Sparrer, are super- visors within the meaning of the Act. One works with a full-time reporter; the other with a part-time re- porter. It is clear from the record that sports editors perform-work in a manner similar to editors of the individual newspapers. Thus, the sports editors work primarily as reporters in an informal cooperative re- lationship with the sports reporters. In sum, the rec- ord does not establish that sports editors are supervi-' sors and we shall include them in the nonmechanical unit. The employee status of a number of other persons is contested in the record and in the brief of the Em- ployer. The Employer contends that Phillip Nelson is, a supervisor of the photographers. Nelson is one of four photographers and performs photographic work. The Employer contends that Nelson has hired all the other photographers on the staff. However, careful review of -the record indicates that he was involved in hiring only to the extent of checking on the applicants'-technical abilities. There is record tes- timony that he effectively recommended the dis- charge of one photographer. However, the record shows that individual editors complained that the photographer was not performing his duties and fail- ing to -take requested pictures. Nelson merely acted as a conduit for their complaints to management. The work of photographers is scheduled in time blocks, and photographers take pictures suggested by editors. Thus, photographers work independently from one another. In these circumstances, we find that the record fails to establish, that PhillipNelson is a supervisor, and we shall include him in the nonme- chanical unit. Katherine Wakerly is the copy desk chief and is claimed by the Employer to be a supervisor. Wakerly is a working copy editor-one of the three full-time copy editors employed at the newspapers. The nature of the work is such that each works relatively inde- pendently of the others. Hiring of copy desk person- nel is done by the executive editor, although Wakerly has performed initial interviewing. One of the copy desk employees earns more money than Wakerly. Wakerly has' been consulted on the progress of a part-time employee, but- the record shows that the executive editor exercises the effective decisionmak- ing authority. Accordingly, we find that Katherine Wakerly is an employee and shall include her in the nonmechanical unit. Jack Young is the overall supervisor for the Employer's advertising department. The Employer also contends that Ernest Bicknell is a supervisor. Until just prior to the hearing Bicknell was a nonsu- pervisory display advertising salesman. The Employ- er, however, contends that he is now the east valley advertising manager and will supervise the work of two other salespersons. At the time of the hearing, the details of the new position had not been worked out, and Bicknell was not in fact acting as a supervi- sor. To find him a supervisor now would be specula- tive. Since Bicknell was told that he would have the authority to hire and fire, he may ultimately assume supervisory authority. Since we are unable to de- termine whether he will be a supervisor at the time of the election, we shall allow him to vote, subject to challenge, in the election in the nonmechanical unit. The Employer would exclude as supervisor Doro- thy Hassett who is a display advertising salesperson in the Los Altos office. She spends about two-thirds of her time doing outside sales work and shares her office with another salesperson, a file clerk, and two classified advertising clerks. The Employer contends that Hassett supervises the work of the clerks and has effectively recommended the hiring and firing of em- ployees. The record shows that both Hassett and the other salesperson interviewed the part-time file clerk and recommended to the advertising manager that she be hired. Her role in hiring was thus both shared and limited. The record also shows that Hassett told one employee that she was discharged but that she was acting under the direction of the advertising manager who made the discharge decision. Little re- view or direction of the classified ad clerks or the file clerks is required. They work independently. The file clerk, in fact, has flexibility in setting her own hours and works until the immediate job is done. For these reasons, we find that the record fails to show that Dorothy Hassett exercises supervisory authority and we shall include her in the nonmechanical unit. The Employer contends that Viola Burkitt is a su- pervisor in charge of the ad service department. She has initially interviewed applicants for employment and told an employee that she had been hired. She also plays a limited role in scheduling employees. However, the ad service department is next to Jack Young's office. Young exercises personal oversight over the ad service operations and makes the deci- sions of whom to hire. Accordingly, we find that Vio- la Burkitt is not a supervisor and shall include her in the nonmechanical unit. Ora Penn is responsible for the dispatch office, which operates a messenger service in connection 158 DECISIONS, OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD with advertising material. Dispatch employees are mostly part-time employees whose qualifications are being able to drive and do the job. There is a high turnover in the department. The record shows that Penn actually hires dispatchers. Accordingly, we find that Ora Penn is a supervisor within the meaning of the Act. The Employer contends that Stephanie Tucci, the office manager at Cupertino, is a supervisor. She re- ports to John Scroggs, the circulation director. Her principal responsibility is feeding circulation infor- mation into a computer and handling the printouts. Although -the job of file clerk is largely- routine, file clerks do report to Tucci. The record shows that Tuc- ci has hired two of the file clerks on her own judg- ment and introduced them to the circulation director only after they were hired. Since Tucci has exercised the authority to hire employees, we find that she is.a supervisor within the meaning of the Act. Lainys Stevens is an office manager,in Cupertino in charge of the accounts. Bookkeeping clerks work in the office. The record shows she has exercised the authority to hire and fire. Accordingly, we find that she is a supervisor. The Employer has five area supervisors, four of whom work with both outside and inside circulation employees 6 These four supervisors all have the same duties and responsibilities. They have the authority to hire and fire file clerks, who are unit employees. The record specifically shows that one, Shirley Ba- trea, hired all four file clerks working for her without consulting with the circulation manager. According- ly, we find that area supervisors are supervisors and shall exclude them from the unit. The Employer would exclude Don Thompson from the unit as a managerial employee. He reports directly to the publisher and works on promotional and marketing programs. He recently introduced the "Marquee" entertainment section which is inserted in each of the newspapers. It appears that he may be managerial. However, as the record is not definitive as to his duties and his relationship with the pub- lisher, we shall allow him to vote, subject to chal- lenge, in the nonmechanical unit. Finally, the Employer would exclude the , credit manager, Sandra Martin, as a managerial employee on the grounds that she can commit the Employer's credit. However, she commits such credit only in the limited area of determining credit worthiness of cus- tomers for advertising. Accordingly, we find she is 6 No file clerks report to the fifth area supervisor, who has the Cupertino Courier and the Sunn vale Scribe Th d 1 1 The insi u F not a managerial employee and shall include her in the nonmechanical_unit. The parties agree that Shirley Boggs and May Shrank are supervisors in the composing room. Bruce Keith works in the composing room as a pasteup art- ist. He assigns pasteup work to employees -and has hired, or effectively recommended the hiring of, em- ployees in the. department. Accordingly, we find that he is a supervisor. Greogry Talbott also works in the composing room operating the camera and stripper tables. The Employer contends that he is a supervisor. One other employee regularly works in camera operations. It appears from the record, that Talbott, as a highly skilled employee, is similar to a leadman and does not responsibly direct the other employee's work. Nor does the record show, as contended by the Em- ployer, that Talbott recruited the other camera-em-, ployee. The record shows that the employee in ques- tion had shown an interest in camera work and that she was transferred by the superintendent who had knowledge of her work. Accordingly, we shall in- clude Talbott in the mechanical unit. The Employer contends that Jean Buscher is an- other supervisor in the composing room . She is a proofreader and does some page makeup. Although she has played a role in recruiting part-time proof- readers, the record shows that the hire or discharge of proofreaders is done by Shirley Boggs. According- ly, we find that Buscher is an employee entitled to vote in the mechanical unit election. , In addition to agreement that Shirley Boggs and May Shrank are composing room supervisors the parties are in agreement that the following persons be excluded from the unit: Pete Seymour, as a super- visor in the circulation department;' Mary Roberts, as a supervisor of classified ad sales; and Wilma Al- bright,, as a confidential secretary. 1 In accord with our Decision herein, we shall direct elections in the following units which we find are appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act: All advertising, editorial, business office, and in- side circulation employees employed by the Em- ployer; excluding mailroom employees, outside circulation employees, and all other employees, guards, and supervisors within the meaning of the Act. All composing room employees employed by the Employer, excluding pressmen and platemen and all other employees, guards, and supervisors within the meaning of the Act. a circu a on emp ogees or [Direction of Elections and Excelsior footnote these papers report to the Cupertino office manager It thus appears that this area supervisor is outside the unit in any event and not eligible to vote omitted from publication.]