Doubleday & Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 12, 1967

165 N.L.R.B. 325 (N.L.R.B. 1967)

DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY 325
Doubleday & Company, Inc. and Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Bookbinders, AFL-
CIO, Petitioner . Case 4-RC-7033.
June 12, 1967
DECISION ON REVIEW AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
On January 11, 1967, the Regional Director for
Region 4 issued a Decision and Order in the above-
entitled proceeding in which he found the units
primarily and alternatively sought by the Petitioner
to be inappropriate and dismissed the petition.
Thereafter, in accordance with the National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as
amended , the Petitioner filed a timely request for
review of the Regional Director 's Decision on the
grounds that , in reaching his unit determinations, he
departed from established Board policy and made
findings of fact which were clearly erroneous. The
Employer filed opposition thereto.
On February 14, 1967, the National Labor
Relations Board by telegraphic order granted the
request for review . Thereafter, the Petitioner and
the Employer filed briefs on review.
Upon the entire record in this case , including the
Petitioner 's request for review and brief on review,
and the Employer 's brief in opposition to review, the
Board makes the following findings:
At its Hanover , Pennsylvania , plant, here
involved , the Employer is engaged in the printing
and distribution of reasonably priced hardbound
and paperbound books. Utilizing the letterpress
printing process, 80 to 90 percent of its production is
devoted to the printing of hardbound books for
shipment directly to members of book clubs. Of its
approximately 360 employees , 20 pressmen,
platehandlers , and helpers are currently represented
by Local461, International Printing Pressmen &
Assistants ' Union , AFL-CIO, and 10 maintenance
machinists are represented by District Lodge 98,
International Association of Machinists , AFL-CIO.
There is no history of collective bargaining for the
other employees.
In its petition, the Petitioner requested a unit of
bookbinding , shipping , receiving, and utility
employees . At the close of the hearing, the
Petitioner indicated that it sought a unit of
employees in the bookbinding and shipping
departments , or, in the alternative , separate units of
employees in each of these two departments. The
Employer contended that the appropriate unit
should include other unrepresented employees,
specifically foundry composition and platemaking
employees, perforators , proofreaders , a carpenter,
and an over-the-road truckdriver . No specific
position was taken by the Employer as to still other
unrepresented employees ; i.e., three electricians,
seven or eight boilerroom employees, and a
steamfitter. The Petitioner indicated that it
disclaimed interest in a unit which included foundry
employees, perforators, and proofreaders.
The Regional Director, finding no evidence of
distinctive skills on the part of employees sought by
the Petitioner and finding a significant amount of
interchange between them and other unrepresented
employees, concluded that neither the primary nor
alternative units requested were appropriate. The
Petitioner contends, inter alia, that the record does
not support his findings as to skills and interchange,
and that the employees"in the bindery and shipping
departments constitute an appropriate unit. We find
merit in this contention.
The record reveals that there are approximately
150 bookbinding employees and 110 shipping
employees and that each group is under separate
departmental supervision. The bookbinding
employees operate machinery and equipment which
perform the operations of gathering, trimming,
staining, rounding, backing, casing, and jacketing
the books. The machinery and equipment is of the
same type as found in bindery departments of
bookprinting establishments generally except that
the Employer utilizes certain production procedures
peculiar to its own requirements. After the books are
assembled and finished they are sent to the adjacent
shipping department where they are packaged for
shipment to book club members or are placed in
storage.' There is frequent interchange of
employees between the bookbinding and shipping
departments, depending upon production needs.
Other unrepresented employees perform
functions which precede the printing of the books.
The receiving department receives and stores paper
stock and other materials used in the printing
production process. Under a receiving clerk there is
an assistant, an over-the-road truckdriver, a highlift
operator, and two material handlers. The receiving
dock is located at one end of the plant, and receiving
employees have little contact and no interchange
with bookbinding and shipping employees. There
are 13 perforators located in an enclosed area on the
first floor of the plant where they prepare tapes
which are used on the typesetting machines. On the
second floor are 31 proofreading employees who
proofread the galleys run by the typesetting
machines. There are 14 foundry composition
employees and 8 foundry platemakers located on the
first floor, next to the press department, who prepare
and mount the plates for use on the presses. The
perforators, proofreaders, and foundry employees,
engaged in the composing process, are under
separate supervision. Although the assistant to the
Employer's vice president testified generally that
there was interchange of employees between
employees in the composing group and the
' After books are packaged for shipment they are sent to a post
office substation located at the plant for mailing
165 NLRB No. 41
299-352 0-70-22
326 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
requested bookbinding and shipping groups, the
plant manager subsequently testified that such
interchange was occasional, and estimated that it
involved one to three or four employees every 3 or 4
weeks.
Still other unrepresented employees perform
various maintenance functions: the three
electricians, a steamfitter, and a carpenter where
needed throughout the plant. The seven or eight
boilerroom employees work in a separate building
and they perform guard duties in addition to their
boilerroom functions.
In cases involving printing establishments,
collective bargaining often proceeds on the basis of
distinct groups of production and maintenance
employees, such as those engaged in composition
and platemaking, those operating letterpress
presses, those engaged in bindery or bookbinding
functions (sometimes including shipping, sometimes
both shipping and receiving employees), and, where
present, those engaged in the lithographic
production process." Although bargaining units of
bookbinding and/or shipping employees have been
sometimes found appropriate on the basis of the
parties' agreement or a history of bargaining limited
to the requested unit ,3 in the absence of such
factors, the Board determines whether or not the
group sought to enjoy a separate community of
interest by examining the facts of the particular
case.
Here, although a unit of unrepresented employees
broader in scope than that sought may be
appropriate, we are persuaded that a unit of
employees in the Employer's bookbinding and
shipping departments, one of the units alternatively
2 See Lloyd Hollister, Inc., 68 NLRB 733, 738; George Grady
Press, Inc., 74 NLRB 1372; Worzella Publishing Company, 121
NLRB 78.
9 See Kingsport Press, Inc., 146 NLRB 260, 264.
* Young & Selden Co., 147 NLRB 67, and other cases cited by
the Regional Director in support of his dismissal of the petition
are factually distinguishable.
An election eligibility list, containing the names and
proposed by the Petitioner, is also appropriate.
Contrary to the Regional Director's finding, we do
not view as significant the extent of interchange
above described between employees engaged in the
composition and platemaking function (the
perforators, proofreaders, and foundry composition
and platemaking employees) and those in the
bookbinding and shipping departments. These, by
far the largest departments in the plant totaling more
than 250 employees, have separate immediate
supervision from that of other departments, are
located in adjacent areas in the plant, and between
them substantial employee interchange occurs. For
these reasons, we find that the employees in the
bookbinding and shipping departments are a well-
defined group of the Employer's production and
maintenance employees and that they share a
sufficient community of interest apart from other
employees to warrant finding them to be an
appropriate unit.`'
Accordingly, we find that a question affecting
commerce exists concerning the representation of
certain employees of the Employer within the
meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of
the Act, and that the following employees of the
Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All employees working in the bookbinding and
shipping departments at the Employer's Hanover,
Pennsylvania, plant, excluding all other employees,
guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election5 omitted from
publication.]
addresses of all the eligible voters, must be filed by the Employer
with the Regional Director for Region 4 within 7 days after the
date of this Decision and Direction of Election. 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. Excelsior
Underwear Inc., 156 NLRB 1236.