Sacramento Publishing Co., Ltd.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 26, 1944

57 N.L.R.B. 1636 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of SACRAMENTO PUBLISHING COMPANY, LTD., and SACRA-
MEN7O UNION EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION
In the Matter of SACRAMENTO PUBLISHING Cob'IP,%NY, LTD., and SACRA-
MENTO VALLEY NEWSPAPER GUILD, CI-IAPTER 92, AMEI;ICAN NEWS-
PAPER GUILD (CIO)
Cases Nos. 20-J?-1076 and 00-R-1094.-Decided August W, 1944
Messrs. Fred V. Mannon, of San Francisco, Calif., C. E. Boron, and
Charles J. Lilley, both of Sacramento, Calif., for the Company.
Mr. H. TV. Eater and Hiss Margaret A. Crosla, both of Sacramento,
'Calif., for the Association.
Mr. Vincent J. Halloran, of Sacramento, Calif., and Mr. Morris
Isserman, of Newark, N. J., for the Guild.
Mr. Joseph C. Wells, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
` DIRECTION OF ELECTION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon separate petitions duly filed by Sacramento Union Employees
Association, herein called the Association, and Sacramento Valley
Newspaper Guild, Chapter 92, American Newspaper Guild- (CIO),
herein called the Guild, alleging that questions affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Sacramento Pub-
lishing Company, Ltd., Sacramento, California, herein called the Com-
pany, the National Labor Relations Board consolidated the.-case-S, and
provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before John Paul
Jennings , Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Sacramento,
California, on July 10, 1944. The Company, the Association, and the
Guild appeared and participated . All parties were afforded full op
portunity to be heard , to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues. Thereafter, the Guild filed
a motion for oral argument . The motion is denied . The Trial Ex-
aminer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error
57 N. L . R. B., No. 272.
1636
SACRAMENTO PUBLISHING COMPANY, LTD. 1637
and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to
file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT -
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
0
Sacramento Publishing Company, Ltd., a Nevada corporation_hav-
ing its principal place of business in Sacramento ,. Califoriia, is en-
gaged in the publication , distribution , and sale of the Sacramento
Union , a morning newspaper published daily , including ,Sunday, at its
plant at Sacramento , California . The daily circulation of the Sacra-
mento Union is in excess of 12,000 copies , and its Sunday circulation is
in exces sof 25,000 copies . The Company is a member of the Associated
Press and approximately 10 percent of the news content , of the paper
originates from points outside the State of California . The Company
purchases raw materials , principally newsprint , which is shipped to it
from points outside the State and which has a total value in excess of
$50,000 each year. Approximately 2.08 percent of the paper's cir-
culation is to points outside the State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
If. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Sacramento Union Employees Association is an unaffiliated labor
organization, admitting to membership 'employees of the Company.
Sacramento Valley Newspaper Guild, Chapter 92, American News-
paper Guild, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Association and the Guild have requested the Company to-recog-
nize each of them as the exclusive bargaining representative of the
employees within the-unit which each alleges to be appropriate, and
the Company has refused to accord such recognition to either union
until certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent and a supplementary statement of the
Trial Examiner, introduced into evidence at the hearing, indicate that
the Association and the Guild each represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit alleged by each to be appropriate.'
i The Roai d agent stated that the Association submitted seven authorization cards which
bore the names of employees of the Company working in the circulation deaartment. and
1638, DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ,BOARD
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9'(c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Association seeks a unit comprised of all employees in the cir-
culation department of the Company's newspaper plant. The Guild
seeks-a unit consisting. of employees in both the editorial and the circu-
lation departments., The Company takes the position that the ques-
tion as to^ whether the employees in the two departments should con-
stitute one or two units for the purposes of collective bargaining should
be resolved in accordance with the desires .of the employees in each
of the departments. '
The Company's newspaper plant is divided into eight departments,
viz., the composing room, stereotype department, press room, mail
room, advertising department, business office, circulation department,
and editorial department. The employees in the composing room, ster-
eotype department, and the press room are presently represented by
three different craft unions affiliated'with the American Federation of
Labor. The mail room employees are represented by an unaffiliated
union. None of the unions which represent the employees in these
four departments is involved in this proceeding, and, at present, no
union seeks to represent the employees in the advertising department or
business office.
The Guild was first recognized by the ,Company in March 1938
as the bargaining representative of the employees in the editorial
department, and thereafter entered into, sever al contracts with- the
Company regarding wages and working conditions for these employ-
ees. In July 1941, the Company recognized an unaffiliated union 2 as
that the names on the cards were the names of employees listed on the Company's pay
roll for the period ending May 13, 1944.
The Board agent further stated that the Guild submitted 18 authorization cards, of
which 16 bore the names of employees of the Company listed on the Company's pay roll for
the period ending May 13, 1944 ; that ^ of these employees worked in the circulation
department and 14 worked in the editorial department ; and that of the cards submitted,
4 were undated and 14 were dated at various dates from December 1936 to April 1944.
The Trial Examiner stated that at the hearing the Association presented two additional
and undated authorization cards bearing the names of employees of the Company working
in the circulation department, and that these names were listed on the Company's'pay roll
for the period ending May 13, 1944
The Trial Examiner further stated at the hearing that the Guild, submitted four addi-
tional authorization cards, that two of these were undated and two were dated June 1944 ,
and two of the cards bore names of employees of the Company working in the circulation
department while the other two bore the nanies of employees in the editorial department ;
and two of the names on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll for the period
sending May 13, 1944, while the remaining two appeared only on the pay roll for the period
ending June 1, 1944. -
' Although this union was also named the, Sacramento Union Employees Association,
which is the name of the petitioner in Case No. 20-R-1076 herein, there is otherwise no
connection between the two organizations.
0
SACRAMENTO PUBLISHING COMPANY, LTD. 1639
the bargaining representative of its circulation department employees,
and executed a 3-year contract with that ' union which provided that
the contract should terminate in July 1944. In February 1943; all
of the employees then working in the circulation department advised
the Company that they had dissolved the union which they had organ-
ized to represent them, and that they desired to be represented by the
Guild. Although the contract between the Company and the unaffili-
ated union with respect to`the circulation department employees, would
not expire for more than, a year, the Company, on March 13, 1943,
entered into a 1-year contract with the Guild with respect to the em-
ployees in both the circulation and editorial departments. On March
13, 1944, the Guild notified,the'Company in writing that it desired to
negotiate with the Company for a new contract to replace the one
which expired on that date. On April 12, 1944, six of the employees
in the circulation department advised the Company in writing that
they had formed their own "independent collective bargaining agency,"
had chosen'its officers, and that their agency wished to be considered
the sole bargaining' agency of the circulation department employees.
At the hearing, the Association, which is identified as the "independent
collective bargaining agency" mentioned above, stated that it had no
need at present to bargain with the Company, but' would do so when
and if the necessity arose. ,
In view, of the recent history of collective bargaining in the Com-
pany's plant, we are of the opinion that, the employees in the editorial
and circulation departments constitute an appropriate unit at this
time.3 Since the Association stated at the hearing that it did not desire
to participate in the election hereinafter directed, we shall dismiss the
petition filed by the Association in Case No. 20-R-1076.
We find that all employees of the Company in its editorial and cir-
culation departments, excluding supervisory employees with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status of employees or effectively recommend such action, consti-
tute a unit appropriate for.the purposes of'collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section' 9 (b) of the Act." ,
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that .the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an' election by secret ballot among the em-
8 Matter of Globe Newspaper Company, 31 N. L R B. 916.
4 Two clerks in the circulation department, one a school girl , work about 4 hours on
Sundays only, receiving complaints from subscribers' and transmitting them to the district
managers 'The Company employs another person on a commission basis to furnish it with
information with respect to local social events. None of these three persons is eligible
for membership in the Guild. These employees, are not included in the above unit which'
we have found to be appropriate.
1640 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to- the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended , it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representatives
for the purposes of collective bargaining with Sacramento Publishing
Company, Ltd., Sacramento, California, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30)
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Twentieth Region, acting in
this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and sub-
ject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations,
among the employees in the unit- found appropriate in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily laid off , and including employees iii the armed forces
of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but
excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the
election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
Sacramento Valley Newspaper Guild, Chapter 92, American News-
paper Guild, -affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
for the purposes of collective bargaining.
ORDER
IT'IS4H.EREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certifica-
tion of representatives of employees of Sacramento Publishing Com-
pany, Ltd., Sacramento,California,,filed herein by Sacramento Union
Employees Association, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part in the consideration of the abovR
Decision, Direction of Election and Order.