Lindsay Newspapers, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 3, 1971

192 N.L.R.B. 478 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

'478 DECISIONS -OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
'Lindsay Newspapers;, Inc. and Sarasota Printing
Pressmen, & Assistants Union ;' Local 565, subordi-
nate to the International Printing Pressmen &
Assistants Union of North America , }AFL-CIO.
Case 12-RC-3638
August 3, 1971
DECISION, AND DIRECTION
BY MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN, AND
KENNEDY
On July 21, 1970, the Sarasota Printing'Pressmen &
Assistants Union, Local 565, subordinate tot the
International -Printing 'Pressmen & Assistants Union
of North America, AFL-CIO, hereinafter'called the
Union,' filed ";,a petition under Section 9(c)(1) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, seeking
an election in a unit of "all paperhandlers, metal
tenders; porters, and maintenance employees, em-
ployed, at the, Sarasota Herald Tribune,"- which is
owned and operated' by Lindsay. Newspapers, Inc:,
hereinafter= called the Employer. On. August 1.3, 1970,1
a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Robert,L.
Lochner.2
On September 8, the Regional Director for Region
12 issued a Decision and Direction of Election in a
unit of "ail maintenance 'employees and
paperhandlers."3 Thereafter, ` the Employer filed a
Request for Review, a supporting brief, and a motion
to reopen the record to adduce additional relevant
evidence.
On October, 6, the National Labor Relations Board
denied the Employer's Request for Review. The
Employer filed 'a motion for reconsideration dated
October 7 , which 'was not received by the Board until
October -9. In its motion, the E1'oyer - contended
that the Hearing Officer refuse to permit it to
introduce testimony showing that the Union's reason
for including paperhandlers in a unit with- mainte-
nance employees is , racially motivated; that 1' th'e
Regional Director refused to consider its offer of
proof that throughout the newspaper indust y paper-
handlers are ^ represented by the Union either In a
separate unit of paperhandlers or in ,a unit composed
of pressmen and paperhandlers ; and that the paper-
handlers lacked`a, sufficient community of interest to
warrant inclusion of them in a unit with maintenance
employees.
An election by' secret ballot was conducted in the
1 All dates hereinafter are in 1970 unless otherwise stated.
2 At the hearing the petition was amended to exclude metal tenders and
porters as the Employer employs no such categories of employees.
8 On September 9, the Regional Director administratively dismissed the
Employer's petition for unit clarification , filed under Section 9(c) of the
Act, in which the Employer sought to have the paperhandlers added to an
existing bargaining unit represented by the Union , which included the
above-entitled proceeding on October 8: The ballots
were impounded at the -,time' of election pending
Board consideration of the, Employer's motion-for
reconsideration. On October,22, the -Board, granted
the- Employer's ; motion , , for reconsideration and
directed the Regional-Director-to `reopen the record
and conduct a hearing on the issues raised by the
motion. Thereafter, a'hearingswas held, on November
16, before Hearing Officer Robert G. Romano, After
the case was transferred-to=the-Board on November
18, the Employer filed a brief.
Pursuant to the provisions of-Section '3(b) ,of ;the
National, Labor Relations Act,, as , amended,.;^the
National Labor Relations,, Board„ has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rulin
made, at the hearing and, finds that they are free from
prejudicial error. Theyvare hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the-Boardfinds:
1. ` The `Employer is engaged in commerce withiii
the meaning of the Act and it will jeffectuate"il e
purposes of the Act to ;assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organization .involved claims to
represent certain employees of the Employer.,,, P,
3.,,^A question-affecting-commerce exists concern-
ing the representation, of the employees of -the
Employer within the 'meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and
Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4., We find that the following employees constitute
a unit appropriate for the - purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the
Act:
All, maintenance employees and paperhandlers
employed by Employer at its Sarasota, Florida,
location; but excluding all other-employees,-office
clerical and professional ,'employees,-,guards, and
supervisors-as define_din the Act.
The Board has considered the Regional' Director's
Decision and Direction of Election,„ ,the {xnployer's
Request for Review and, supporting. brief, the,Em-
ployer's motion for reconsideration, the, Employer's
brief;, and the entire recor=d:in the case, and hereby
affirms the Regional Director's'finding thata unit of
,the Employer's maintenance, employees and paper-
handlers-is, appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
Employer's journeymen and apprentice press operators. The Regional
Director based his dismissal on the fact that the issue raised by the unit
clarification petition had already been ruled upon in his Decision and
Direction of Election in Case l2-RC-3638 and the Employer had not
brought forth any new evidence which was not previously available in Case
12-RC-3638. No appeal was taken by the Employer from this dismissal.
192 NLRB No. 61
LINDSAY NEWSPAPERS, INC. 479
1. ALLEGED--RACIAL MOTIVATION on the- scale committee that these men were thought
The Employer is engaged-in the daily publication of
a morning and an evening newspaper. The Union has
been the certified collective bargaining representative
for the Employer's, pressmen since 1955.4 The last
contract, between the, Union and the Employer defines
the unit as "thepress-stereo department" operated by
the publisher, and under this contract the Union's
jurisdiction extends over "all rotary printing presses
employed in said pressrooms, including, but not
limited to gravure, off-set and letterpress printing
presses and associated devices." The contract was
signed on October 18, 1968, for a 3-year term and
contains an annual wage ,and hour reopener clause.
There is no bargaining history for the maintenance or
paperhandler personnel -Their wages are set by the
Employer. The wages of the paperhandlers were not
brought up in the most recent wage negotiations held
for, the existing unit in 1969,
Donald L. Evans, the Employer's business manager
and treasurer, testified that. on two occasions, subse-
quent to the filing of the petition herein, the Employer
offered to include the paperhandlers as part of the
pressmen's unit. Ii' did so, -according to Evans,
because it felt that the paperhandlers have a conunu-
nity of interest with the pressmen and none with the
maintenance employees, and also because it believed
there would be'anatural or desirable progression from
paperhandler to pressman -apprentice. Evans stated
that the Employer has always viewed the paperhan-
dlers as being within the press-stereo department
represented already by the Union, but explained that
the Einployerhad excluded them from the sweep of its
collective-bargaining agreement with the Union by an
"administrative failure" or "oversight. " Evans- first
testified that the, Union rejected the Employer's offer
to include the paperhandlers in the pressmen's unit on
the' ground that _"it was inappropriate." At another
point, Evans said the Union stated that- the inclusion
of, the paperhandlers in the pressmen's unit was
inappropriate because the^skills of the paperhandlers
were not comparable to the skills of the pressmen. At
yet another point, Evans said he could not recall the
Union's `specific, answer to the Employer's offer to
include the paperhandlers-in-the existing pressmen's
unit other, than the fact that it, deemed it inappropri-
ate. When asked- specifically why the Employer has
suggested that the Union is, discriminating or has
discriminated insome way based upon race, Evans
replied as follows: "I have considered the arguments
of the press room employees or their representatives
4 Lindsay Newspapers, Inc., d/b/a Sarasota Herald Tribune and Journal,
111 NLRB 654.
S Evans , said that the Employer did not think -that -the Union's argument
that the paperhandlers' skills were not comparable to the pressmen's skills
inappropriate to their unit as not being ;valid ... .
And the only, reason that I can believe;,-for their
rejection of these paperhandlers, is because of, their
race."5 Evans later said that his thinkingmas -affected
by his understanding. that the Union did notlave any
apprentices or journeymen that were Black.
- The undisputed facts show that of the, Employer's
nine maintenance employees, about 50 percent are
Black. The Employer presently employs two paper-
handlers, both of whom, are-,Black. It had formerly
employed one- other paperhandler, who also was
Black.' The Employer has 21 journeymen, none, of
whom are Black, and 6 apprentices, 2 of whom are
Black. One Black apprentice was hired about, 6
months before the reopened bearing and the other
was hired within about a month of, the -reopened
hearing. The Black apprentice that, was .hired 6
months before became 'a member of the Union within
1 or 2 months of -his employment, which would,place
his joining about 4 months before the reopened
hearing. He was the only Black member of the Union
at the time of the reopened hearing. The- Union has
between 30 and 35 members. In the past 2 years-the
Employer has changed over to apress:twice the size of
the former one and therefore there -have been more
pressmen and consequently more applications for
union membership. There was testimony to the effect
that it takes -a little time to process W a,- union
membership application and that.the Union usually
waited 1 week or 2 weeks before doing so to makesure
an employee was going to continue his employment. -
The. Employer normally -hires new applicants
directly, -whether journeymen or apprentices. If it, is
unable to find one itself it then goes to the Union. The
Employer's present six apprentices were procured
through advertisements and, upon applications to its
personnel director. Evans said that the Employer has
requested journeymen and apprentices from- the
Union but has never asked for Black journeymen and
apprentices. As mentioned before, Evans stated that
no Black journeymen or apprentices were ever
referred to the Employer from-the Union, but also
stated that, the Union has never refused to send the
Employer Black apprentices.
Evans admitted that he bad never told the Union of
the Employer's progression wish to enable the
paperhandlers to become apprentice pressmen if they
so desired. He also testified-that when the Employer
hired its two Black apprentice pressmen the ,Union
did nott oppose the hirings in , any way,,,and that there
had been do difficulties occurring in the plant over the
was a valid one as some of the journeymen that the Employer has working
for it have varying degrees - of 'skill and some journeymen who were
members of the Union were incompetent and had to be fired.
480 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employment of the two Black apprentices. Evans also
said that n9.,-representative of the Union has ever
made a statement' to him with respect to -race which
would cause him to form the impression he had, that
the, Uniori rejected these paperhandlers as part of
.tiressting unit because of race. He also said he did
'rotkryow of, any policy on the part of the local union
to-,eXclude.Blacks from its membership, except that to
his knowledge they have not included any Blacks. At
another point in his testimony Evans said the only
knowledge he has of=the Union's policies stems from
the fact that it has never referred Black journeymen or
apprentices to the-Employer although, as he admitted,
the Employer has never requested the Union to do-so.
Delbert Lee Grover, the Union's president and a
pressman for the Employer for 10 years, testified that
the Union - has no policy which bars Black from
membership or the benefits of collective bargaining,
and that no one has ever been excluded from its
membership because of his color: He also denied that
race had anything to do with the Union's position of
not wishing to include paperhandlers in the existing
pressmen-unit.
On these facts, we are unable to conclude that the
evidence establishes that the reason advanced, by the
Union for refusing to include the two paperhandlers
in their existing unit of pressmen, namely that the
paperhandler 'skills are not comparable to'pressmian
skills, was pretextual and that the real reason was the
Union's racial bias. While the fact that the Union'has
only' one Black member and has never ' ref erred a
Black journeyman or apprentice to the Employer may
be regarded as a suspicious circumstance, the reason
advanced by the Union for, not , "including the
paperhandlers is in line with established Board policy,
as reaffirmed hereinafter. In addition, the Employer
admits that it never told the Union that it felt there
was a "natural" or "desirable" progression from
paperhandler, to pressman when it suggested that the
Union include thepaperharidlers in their existing unit
and heretofore there had been no'line of progression
between the two classifications. Moreover, there was
no evidence presented by any Black individual that he
had been discriminated `against-by the Union andin
fact the Employer admitted that when it hired its two
Black ,"apprentices the Union, did not oppose" the
hirings rn any fashion, nor have there been any
problems in the plantconcerning their' employment.
In addition, Evans conceded that none of the Union's
representatives has ever made a statement to him that
would have lent support to his impression that 'the
Union is racially biased. Finally, although the matter
is not relevant to the Union's alleged racial prejudice,
the Employer's, position, does raise a question as to its
own motivation. Thus, while the Employer claims that
it had always considered the paperhandlers as being
in the existing unit, it'admits that it-has excluded them
from the collective-bargaining agreement it has with
the Union, claiming_however that this ,was due- to an
"administrative failure" or ,"oversight." Further, the
Employer hired the six present apprentices, including
the two Black ones, and,there is nothing in its contract
with the Union to- prevent it - from- also- having
advanced on its own the two present-paperhandlersto
apprentice pressman status.`
Ii. 'INDUSTRY ' PRACTICE
The -Employer introduced 11 contracts that it
obtained by request ' from the 1 ,000-member Ameri-
can Newspaper Publishers Association to which `it
belongs, in support òf its , contention that throughout
the newspaper 'industry paperhandlers are represent
ed by' the Union eitlieriseparately or with, pressmen,
rather than in a unit with maintenance employees.At
one point Evans stated that he had requested any
contracts between any newspaper publishers and-the
Union's International or any of;its locals covering the
jurisdiction of paperhandlers : At another point in his
testimony Evans said "that he requested contf `acts in
wmcn me jurisarction inciuaea maintenance employ-
ees or paperhandlers . At still anothe point, Evans
testified that he asked them to, send him contracts
wherein paperhandlers would beina_separate unit by
themselves or in a, pressmen's o unit. ,Examination
showed that initially one` such contract was sent
pursuant to the ,fimt inquiry ofEvans;Thereafter, 10
additional contracts were obtained through the
inquiry , of the Employer's attorney. 'Evans admitted
that , he did not inquire of other newspapers in,his
,immediate area or in the State of. Florida except for
one newspaper -in Tampawhere he learned paperhan-
dlersare separately represented. .
Of the 11 contracts introduced by the Employer, , 8
included paperhandlers in the , pressmen's unit., 1
contained a separate paperhandler , unit, 1 contained
just a pressmen's unit,,and the last- ,contained a
porter's unit . The contracts are from they following
geographic areas : Baltimore (2); San Diego ., Honolu-
lu;Nassau-County, N.Y.; Detroit; Reading, Pa.; Los
Angeles ;- Indianapolis; ,Knoxville ,.Tenn.; and Van-
couverryBritish Columbia.,ThePrecord shows that there
are about, 1,500 publishers in the United, States.
Glover, the Union''s witness , testified that through its
locals it has 780 collective -bargaining agreements `in
the newspaper industry although the nature of the
units was notidentified.
On the basis of these few contracts , we are unable to
conclude `that newspaper industry practice :supports
the l Employer's -contention that, the, paperhandlers
should ' be included ' in a unif` with pressmen or
LINDSAY NEWSPAPERS, INC.
alternatively'should be represented in a separate unit
by themselves.
III. COMMUNITY OF INTEREST
The undisputedfacts, as elicited from the Employ-
er's witness, Evans, show -that at the time of the
Board's 1955 certification of the Union as the
representative of "all pressmen and their apprentices"
in,the Employer's pressroom, the pressmen performed
what limited paperhandling duties were then required -
due to the =Employer's-smaller size of operation and
the utilization of an old press. The rolls of newsprint
were^manually rolled-from a dock on the same level as
the' pressroom into the storage area. Thereafter,,about
1959, because the Employer moved to a new facility
without a dock on the same level and because of an
increased amount-of work; management determined
that it would bebetterto hire a man and use special
equipment; e.g., a forklift - truck, to - perform the
paperhandling work. Paperhandlers hired in 1959 still,
occupy- that-position., They are former maintenance
employees who were hired- by, the building superin-
tendent, who,is;themaintenance supervisor.
-The paperhandlers work one, shift from 7 a.m. to
4:30 p.m.,- and-according to the Employer, the
pressmen on. that shift work the same hours. The
paperhandlers spend most of their_worktime in the
press-stereo department, but do not-, operate the
presses. They are the only employees working in the
pressroom besides the pressmenand a machinist hired
a, month =,before the reopened hearing.6 Their job
basically is to run a forklift -truck to unload incoming
trucks of newsprint rolls and then move the rolls ,first
to a storage area, then to a lay-down area-and-finally
to the pressroom. They also transfer newsprint rolls to
the storage area by regular truck from the separately
located warehouse which is about 4 or 5 miles from
the printing plant. This operation may occur as
frequently as every dayand at other times only occurs
2 to 3 ,,times a week. The paperhandlers remove the
outside side wrappers from the-rolls, note-the number,
of the roll, and transmit this number to the accounting
department.' Before the, paperhandlers leave for the
day they put in rolls of newsprint in the presses for the
morning newspaper. However, if more rolls are
needed or different size rolls are required, the night
pressmen take them down. The paperhandlers are
daily required to clean the press floorboards and
portable ink fountains on the press, and to sweep
floors, remove combustible materials around the
equipment, and collect all of the waste metal and
remelt it. In addition, they lay down papers and drip
6 Evans first stated the machinist was part of the press -stereo unit but
that he was not covered by any collective -bargaining agreement that the
481
pans. From time to time they clean the presses but this,
is also the duty of the pressmen.
In his absence, the paperhandler's function has been
performed by a cooperative effort between a mainte-
nance employee who can operate the forklift truck
and the pressmen. The paperhandlers do not work at
night because- there is not enough work to justify
another full paperhandling shift. Evans stated that he
has observed pressmen at night moving newsprint as
do the paperhandlers, and thatpressmen occasionally
perform this function on weekends. On occasion a
paperhandler may fill in for a maintenance employee.
The paperhandlers' duties are confined to the ware-
house, storage and lay-down areas, pressroom and
stereotype room,
The pressmen, who apparently work more than one
shift, operate the presses and do their own minor
maintenance, e.g., oiling and greasing. They also
clean the presses. As mentioned above, they fill in for
the paperhandlers, when the latter are,absent, in
cooperation with the maintenance men. Their prima-
ry duty is at the presses and they would not be taken
off a press to handle paper.
The maintenance people work three shifts. The first
shift is from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., the second from 4
p.m. to midnight, and the third from midnight to 8:30
a.m. There are seven employees on the first, one on
the second, and one or two on the third. The
maintenance, employees clean the composing room
daily. They pick up used metal in the composing
room, remelt it, and pour it into molds which are then
transported back to the composing room; and they
deliver hot ingots by handcar to the stereotype room.
They also clean light bulbs, empty wastebaskets, and
bale wastepaper. They truck wastepaper to the,dump
and pick up mail from the post office and -deliver
outgoing mail there. In addition, they pick up news
copy, advertising copy, and interdepartmental corre-
spondence from the newspaper's Bradenton office,
presumably for delivery to the Sarasota plant. The
maintenance employees do no maintenance work in
the press-stereo department. They replace supplies in
the restrooms and paint and repair=ding. They
also keep the grounds free of wastepaper and
miscellaneous debris. One, maintenance employee is a
maid who cleans and vacuums the executive offices.
However, the Employer, has a cleaning -service that
cleans the floors and desktops and washes windows.
As mentioned previously, they, along with the
pressmen, occasionally operate a forklift truck to
transport newsprint in the absence of a paperhandler.
The supervisory)hierarchy is as follows:
There is a general manager at the newspaper to
whom department heads report. Under him, among
Employer currently has with any union. He then stated that he thought the
machinist is within the bargaining unit.
482'" DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
others, are a building superintendent, who supervises
the maintenance employees, and a press-stereo
superintendent, who ' supervises the pressmen. Be-
neath the'press-stereo superintendent are two press
foremen; ' a night- foreman, and a day ^ foreman. The
paperhandlers are directly supervised by the day press
foreman. However, they are carried by the Employer
on its building department payroll. As do all hourly
employees; the paperhandlers keep their own time-
cards, but like maintenance employees they turn them
in for `approval- to the building superintendent.7 On
rare occasions when the paperhandlers have nothing
to do' and the building superintendent needs assist-
ance, they will be directly supervised by-the building
superintendent. Since the men who occupy the
paperholder positions are the original occupants of
the'°paperliandler job and came out of the mainte-
nance group, ` - they 'were originally hired by the
bding`superintendent. The-pressroom superintend-
ent` never, supervises'the maintenance employees nor
does thee--'building superintendent ever, supervise
pressmen. While none of the paperhandlers has ever
become ill on the job, Evans said he assumed an ill
paperhan"dler would notify both the building and
press-stereo superintendents.
The paperhandlers earn $2.20 an hour. The mainte-
nance employees make 10 to 20 cents -less an hour
except = for one maintenance employee who was
described as a "gang chief" and,who makes $2.35.
Journeymen pressmen make $3.94 an hour and
apprentice pressmen"start at 60 per cent off scale,
about $2.36. Every 6 months the 'apprentice wage
increases'5 per cent.
It takes 4 years to become'a journeyman pressman
and i` nontli 'to becbme a paperhandler. However,
Evans stated that in the past 2 yearspossibly four
apprentices' -'became journeymen after 3-1/2 years
withthe approval of'Petitioner.
111`` employees of th=e Employer use common
facilities;' such as"restrooms and cafeterias. In addi-
tion,'a"Yl'employees receive the ,same fringe benefits,
such, as vacations. Paperhandlers and maintenance
employees wear blue' uniforms and pressmen wear
green ones.
Based on the"entire record, we are persuaded that
I Evans indicated this may be changed m the future.
the community of interest that the paperhandlers
share with the maintenance employees is broader than
any community of interest they might enjoy with the
pressmen, and that accordingly , a _ single unit of
paperhandlers and maintenance employees is an
appropriate one. This is so,by reason of the fact that
the pressmen are undoubtedly a distinct and homoge-
neous group ,of skilled craftsmen while the paperhan-
dlers possess no craft skills nor any appreciable skills
other than their- ability to drive a forklift truck, which
can be learned in, l month ; the, paperhandlers have
been excluded from the long existing pressmen-craft
unit represented by the Union since the classification
of paperhandler was created in 1959 ; the :work
functions of- the paperhandlers are substantially
different from those-of the pressmen;, the paperhan-
dlers do perform maintenance tasks in the pressroom
and on occasion may fill - in for a. maintenance
employee; the paperhandlers were, recruited from the
maintenance ranks and there-is no line of progression
from paperhandler classification to pressman , classifi-
cation ; the paperhandlers earn substantially , less per
hour than pressmen and only a little more per hour
than the maintenance employees; and-the paperhan-
dlers are carried by the Employer on, its payroll for the
building department, which is., the maintenance
department, and, like the maintenance employees,
turn in their timecards for approval to thelbuilding
department superintendent , who supervises:the.main
tenance employees.
Accordingly, we shall direct that the Regional
Director for Region 12' shall open and count the
ballots,' prepare- and) cause, to be served upon the
parties a tally oP ballots, and -thereafter issue the
appropriate certification.
DIRECTION
It is hereby directed that the'Regional Director for`
Region 12 shall; pursuant to" the Rules and Regula-
tions of the Board , within 10 days from the date of this
Direction, open and count `the ballots, prepare and
caus'e' to be served upontheparties a tally of, ballots,
and thereafterissue the appropriate, CertificatiOin.