Bremerton Sun Publishing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 27, 1974

212 N.L.R.B. 129 (N.L.R.B. 1974)

BREMERTON SUN PUBLISHING CO. 129
Bremerton Sun Publishing Company and Pacific
Northwest Newspaper Guild Local 82, The Newspa-
per Guild, AFL-CIO, Petitioner . Case 19-RC-6914
June 27, 1974
DECISION ON REVIEW
BY MEMBERS JENKINS, KENNEDY, AND PENNELLO
On January 17, 1974, the Regional Director for
Region 19 issued a Decision and Direction of Election
in the above-entitled proceeding in which he found
appropriate the Petitioner's requested unit of all non-
mechanical employees, excluding outside circulation
and mailroom employees. Thereafter, in accordance
with National Labor Relations Board Rules and Re-
gulations, the Employer filed a timely request for re-
view of the Regional Director's Decision on the
grounds that in excluding outside circulation and
mailroom employees from the unit, he departed from
officially reported Board precedent and that there are
compelling reasons for reconsideration of an impor-
tant Board policy.
By telegraphic order dated February 11, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board granted the request for
review only with respect to the unit placement of mail-
room employees and stayed the election pending deci-
sion on review. Thereafter, the Petitioner filed a brief
on review.
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 this
case with respect to the issues under review, including
the Petitioner's brief on review, and hereby affirms
the Regional Director's determination to exclude
mailroom employees from the requested unit, for the
following reasons:
The Employer is engaged in the publishing, print-
ing, and distribution of a 6-day-per-week daily news-
paper in Kitsap County, Washington. The Employer
agreed that the requested unit of nonmechanical em-
ployees is appropriate,' except that, contrary to the
Petitioner, it would have included outside circulation
and mailroom employees. The Regional Director ex-
cluded both categories.
The outside circulation employees, as to whose ex-
clusion the Board has denied review, consist of 1
street salesman, 5 district managers, and 15 motor
route drivers. These employees deliver bundled news-
papers to newsstands, stores, and carrier pickup
points, and they make tube deliveries in assigned ar-
eas. They work on a part-time basis, and are super-
vised by the circulation manager.
' The parties had agreed to exclude the maintenance employees
There are 26 employees in the mailroom: a fore-
man, 2 flyboys, 1 loader-mailer, 1 mail clerk, and 21
stuffers. The mailroom foreman operates the tying
machine and works approximately 20 hours per week.
The flyboys pick up newspapers from the press con-
veyor and bundle them for the tying machines, put
individual copies into mailing envelopes for mailing
through the post office, and perform some cleanup
duties. They are paid by the hour and average about
20 hours per week. The loader-mailer picks up the
newspapers after they have been tied by machine and
conveyed to the dock and places them in a car or truck
for distribution by the motor route drivers. He is paid
by the hour and averages about 25 hours per week.
The mail clerk prepares mailing labels on the addres-
sograph machine and keeps them up to date. He
works approximately 25 hours a week.
The 21 stuffers insert preprinted advertising inserts
into the newspapers and at times help put individual
editions into mailing envelopes. Over the course of a
calendar year, they average about 9 hours of work per
week and usually work those hours over a span of 2
days a week. The mailroom employees, like the circu-
lation employees, work under the supervision of the
circulation manager.
Upon the foregoing, we conclude that the mailroom
employees share a closer community of interest with
the excluded outside circulation employees than with
the other nonmechanical employees agreed to be in-
cluded in the unit. Aside from the fact that both
groups work under common supervision on a part-
time basis performing the end function of mailing and
delivery of the finished newspapers, the mailroom em-
ployees together with the outside circulation employ-
ees comprise virtually the entire circulation
department. We therefore agree with the Regional
Director's conclusion that they, along with the outside
circulation employees, should be excluded from the
unit.'
Accordingly, we shall remand the case to the Re-
gional Director in order that he may conduct an elec-
tion pursuant to his Decision and Direction of
Election, except that the eligibility payroll period
therefor shall be the one immediately preceding the
issuance date of this Decision on Review.3
2 See Lowell Sun Publishing Company, 132 NLRB 1168, The Peoria Journal
Star, Inc, 117 NLRB 708,712
3 In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to be
informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all parties
to the election should have access to a list of voters and their addresses which
may be used to communicate with them Excelsior Underwear Inc, 156
NLRB 1236, N L R B v Wyman-Gordon Co, 394 U S. 759 Accordingly,
it is hereby directed that a corrected election eligibility list, containing the
names and addresses of all the eligible voters, must be filed by the Employer
with the Regional Director for Region 19 within 7 days of the date of this
Decision on Review The Regional Director shall make the list available to
all parties to the election No extension of time to file this list shall be granted
by the Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances Failure to
comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside the election
whenever proper objections are filed
212 NLRB No. 18