Johnson Printing, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 19, 1951

92 N.L.R.B. 1426 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

In the Matter of JOHNSON PRINTING, INC., Employer and LOCAL 343,
INTERNATIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN & ASSISTANTS UNION OF NORTH
AMERICA, AFL, Petitioner
Case No. 18-RC-793.-Decided January 19, 1951
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed tinder Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Erwin A. Peterson, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-mem-
ber panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.,
4. The Petitioner is seeking a unit of all employees working in the
Company's bindery, offset press, letterpress, and composing room de-
partments. The Intervenor is seeking a unit consisting of all the em-
ployees of the offset department 2 and excluding all other employees.
There is no history of collective bargaining among any employees of
the Employer.
' Permission to intervene was granted to Amalgamated Lithographers of America Local
10, CIO, herein called the Intervenor, upon the basis of its claim to represent the Employer's
lithographic employees , supported by an adequate showing of interest. The Employer, in
opposition to the intervention, contends that the Intervenor is limited by its International
to a geographical region other than the one herein involved. Absent a showing that a
labor union could not adequately represent the employees, we have consistently refused to
consider the jurisdictional limitations established by the union 's constitution or bylaws.
See The Ticking Corporation, 90 NLRB 1.006.
2 The offset department includes all the lithographic employees of the Employer and com-
prises employees in such classifications as lithograph camera operator, stripper, offset
pressman , stop and repeat operator , offset platemaker , and dot etcher.
92 NLRB No. 211.
1426
JOHNSON PRINTING, INC. 1427
(a) The lithographic processing group
In support of its proposed unit, the Petitioner seeks to distinguish
this case from Board precedents holding that lithographic employees
constitute a unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining.3
As basis for its claimed distinction, the Petitioner contends : (1) That
it is particularly desirable in a small plant to have an over-all unit
because the employees have interests in common; (2) that because
there is no bargaining history at the plant, there is no indication that
a single unit would not be appropriate; and (3) that the pattern of
bargaining at other plants in the area shows that an over-all unit has
been widely adopted.
We are of the opinion that the Petitioner has failed to establish a
distinction upon the basis of the foregoing contentions. The Board
has frequently considered the skills and techniques incident to the lith-
ographic process and has held that, absent "unusual circumstances,"
all employees engaged in the lithographic process form a cohesive unit
for purposes of collective bargaining.4 The contentions urged by
the Petitioner fall short of establishing the "unusual circumstances"
hereinabove referred to and found to exist in the case of Pacific Press
Inc.' In that case our decision largely rested on the fact that there
was considerable interchange between the offset and letterpress depart-
ments. Here there is no such interchange. Furthermore, there is no
sufficient proof that to establish a separate unit for lithographic em-
ployees here constitutes an exception to the pattern of bargaining in
the area. In accord with well-established precedent,6 we believe that
the lithographic employees in the Employer's offset department form
a unit of employees of the type which the Board has found appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining. In view, therefore, of the
request for separate representation of lithographic employees, we find
no merit in the Petitioner's contention that only the broader unit
sought by the Petitioner and including lithographic employees, is ap-
propriate. We find that the lithographic processing employees may,
if they so desire, constitute a separate unit.
The Intervenor desires to include in the lithographic group em-
ployees classified as artists in the commercial art department if such
inclusion is consistent with the Intervenor's position in other cases
and with Board policy. The Employer takes no position. Although
the artists in the commercial department comprise a separate depart-
' McDonald Printing Company, 81 NLRB 481 ; Johnson City Publishing Company, 81
NLRB 1341: Danner Press, Inc., 80 NLRB 844.
4 Ewing Printing Company, 85 NLRB 237 ; Manz Corporation, 79 NLRB 211.
5 60 NLRB 458.
6 Ewing Printing Company, supra, footnote 4.
1428 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ment and do some work for the sales department, approximately 75
percent of their time is spent on work connected with the lithographic
process. Because their interests are principally allied with those of
the lithographic processing employees, we shall include artists in the
lithographic voting group.'
We find that all lithographic processing employees at the Employ-
er's Eau Claire, Wisconsin, plant, including employees in the offset
department in such classifications as offset pressman, offset platemaker,
lithograph camera operator, stripper, opaquer, stop and repeat opera-
tor, and -dot etcher, together with their apprentices and helpers, and
employees in the commercial art department classified as artists, but
excluding all other employees and supervisors,8 may constitute a unit
appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act. However, we shall make no final unit
determination at this time but shall first ascertain the desires of the
employees in the election hereinafter directed for this group.
(b) The production and maintenance group
It appears that the balance of the employees covered by the present
petition and consisting of employees in the letterpress, composing
room, and bindery departments, constitute in effect a residual group.
Although the Petitioner would exclude from this group three em-
ployees in the delivery, receiving' and shipping departments, and two
employees engaged in maintenance and janitorial duties," no other
union seeks to represent these five employees, who will otherwise be
left without a bargaining representative. Under the circumstances
and in view of the common interests of the production and maintenance
employees, we shall adhere to our usual policy of including within a
single group all remaining production and maintenance employees.10
Upon the basis of the foregoing and upon the record as a whole, we
shall direct separate elections by secret ballot among the employees
in the following voting groups described below :
1. All the lithographic processing employees in the offset depart-
ment at the Employer's Eau Claire, Wisconsin, plant, including em-
ployees in the commercial art department, but excluding all other
employees and supervisors.
7 Roberts and Sons, 71 NLRB 294 ; The Heekin Can Company, 89 NLRB 717.
8 Not excluded under this category are the two working foremen in the plant who have
no supervisory characteristics and are therefore included in the unit.
8 Although an additional employee is classified as a maintenance employee , it appears
that his entire time is spent in the performance of watchmen duties ; accordingly, we find
that he is a guard to be excluded from the unit.
10 See Florence Manufacturing Company, Inc., 92 NLRB 185; Southland Manufacturing
Company , 91 NLRB No. 38.
JOHNSON PRINTING, INC. 1429
2. All the production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, plant, excluding lithographic processing em-
ployees, office clerical employees, professional employees, guards, and
supervisors within the meaning of the Act "
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
11
Not excluded under this category is the working foreman of the bindery department.
However, the working foreman of the composing room department has the power to hire
employees and is therefore excluded as a supervisor.