A. B. Dick Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 24, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 367 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of A. B. DICK COMPANY, EMPLOYER and CHICAGO TYPo-
GRAPIIICAL UNION NUMBER 16, INTERNATIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL
UNION, AFL., PETITIONER
Case No. 13-R-4204.-Decided June 24, 1947
Pope c0 Ballard, by Messrs. Ernest Ballard and 117. W. McKittrick,
of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. C. J. Anderson, of Chicago, Ill., for the
Employer.
Messrs. N. M. Di Pietro and James Cain, of Chicago, Ill., for the
Petitioner.
Mr. Harry W. Clayton, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Chicago,
Illinois, on April 10, 15, and 16, 1947, before Max Rotenberg, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
The Employer, an Illinois corporation, operates two manufactur-
ing plants in Chicago, Illinois, where it is engaged in the manufacture
of mimeograph duplicating machines, stencil sheets, supplies, and
accessories . At its Lake Street plant, the Employer operates a custo-
mers ' service department, the only part of its operations involved in
this proceeding. The purchases of material for the Lake Street plant
exceed $1,000,000 per anum, of which more than 80 percent comes from
points outside the State of Illinois. The sales of manufactured pro-
ducts of the Lake Street plant exceed $1,000,000 per annum, of which
more than 00 percent is shipped to points outside the State. The
purchase of materials for use at the Employer's customers' service
department exceeds $200,000 per annum, of which virtually all comes
from points within the State. The manufactured products of the
74 N. L . R. B., No. 63. 367
755420-48-vol. 74-25
368 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
customers' service department exceed $200,000 per annum, of which
more than 90 percent is shipped to points outside the State of Illinois.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with International
Typographical Union, which is affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNTT
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all make-up men, lock-up
men, and copy checkers in the Employer's customers' service depart-
- ment, including the make-up group leader, but excluding all other
employees. The Employer contends that it, is not engaged. in the
printing industry and, consequently, the traditional printing trades
craft unit requested by the Petitioner is inappropriate. It further
maintains that the appropriate unit should be one composed of all
the employees of the customers' service department, including the
group leaders, but excluding the employees in the photo-chemical
section.' Thus, in addition to the employees in the unit sought by the
Petitioner, the Employer would include plastic die molders, die im-
pressing and form topping machine operators, checkers and packers,
straight knife operator, and laborers.
The function of the customers' service department is to cut or,
"stencilize" uniform material or copy on standard stencil sheets in
quantity for customers of the Employer. Hand set type forms are
made up and are either sent to an outside firm for nickelplating or to
the plastic die molders for the preparation of plastic dies. The plate,
or die is sent to the pressmen where it is used to impress the stencil.
I i The photo -chemical section is engaged in the reproduction of customer copy by a photo-
chemical process wherein the material is photographed and reproduced by photographic
contact printing of the film on stencil The pasties agreed, and we find, that the employees
in this section should b2 excluded from the unit hereinafter found appropriate
A. B. DICK CO_NIPA__NT Y 369
Twice during the process proofs are printed and are proofread by the
copy checkers. The employees in this department use tools and
equipment found in commercial printing establishments. For
example, the tools used by the form make-up men include sticks;
frames, galleys, tweezers. stone and imposing tables; chases, and
quoins; and those used by lock-up men include chases, stones, and
alignment gauges. Other equipment of this department includes a
pony press, Miehle vertical presses, and Webendorfer presses. The
record shows that the process, in general, follows that employed in
commercial printing plants. The major deviation lies in the fact
that the copy is transferred by impression on a stencil stock without
the application of ink. We are of the opinion that the operations
performed and functions exercised by the employees involved in this
proceeding are analogous to those found in regular printing estab-
lishments and that, therefore, the same principles may be applied in
our determination of the appropriate bargaining unit as are custom-
arily applied by the Board in the printing industry.
The Employer further alleges in support of a finding of an appro-
priate unit composed of all employees of the customers' service depart-
ment that the employees work in the same room, have frequent con-
tacts with each other, and are subject to uniform working conditions,
and that there is an interchange of employees between job classifica-
tions.
The customers' service department is located on one floor of the
Employer's plant; except for the photo-chemical section, there are
no partitions separating the groups working in the various phases of
production; and the record indicates that there have been some tem-
porary assignments of employees from the duties of their official
classifications to those of other jobs for training, for substituting for
absentees, and for meeting momentary shifts in work load. It is true
that, as contended by the Employer, all employees of the customers'
service department, except the foreman and the employees in the
photo-chemical section, could very well function as a single unit.
However, there is no collective bargaining history covering the eru-
ployees involved. We are of the opinion that the unit requested by the
Petitioner follows well-recognized craft lines in the printing trade,
and as such warrants its establishment as a separate collective bargain-
in g unit.2
We find that all make-up men, lock-up men, and copy checkers, in
the Employer's customers' service department at its Lake Street plant,
2 See Matter of LaSalle-Crittenden Press, Inc, 72 N. L R B 1166; Matter of Uatco
Incoi pouted, 71 N L Ti B 605: Matter of Rudolph Crthweinie, 60 N L R. B 447 ; and
Matte? of H L Ruggles