The Chicago Sun

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 23, 1943

46 N.L.R.B. 1335 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter Of MARSHALL FIELD, DOING BUSINESS AS THE CHICAGO
SUN, and CHICAGO NEWSPAPER GUILD, LOCAL 71, OF THE AMERICAN
NEWSPAPER GUILD, AFFILIATED WITH THE C. I. O.
Case No. R-4691.-Decided January 03, 1943
Jurisdiction : newspaper publishing industry.
Investigation ' and Certification of Representatives : existence of question:
refusal to grant recognition until union certified by the Board ; election nec-
essary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all,employees of the, editorial and
news departments of the Company's Chicago office, with specified inclusions
and exclusions.
Mr. C. H. Heinfelden and Mr. Russell Greenacre, of Chicago, Ill.,
for the Company.
Messrs. Isserman, Isserman cfi Kapelsohn, by Mr. Abraham J. Isser-
man, of Newark, N. J., for the Guild.
Miss Viola James, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Chicago Newspaper Guild, Local 71,
,of the American Newspaper Guild, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, herein called the Guild, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Marshall Field, doing business as The Chicago Sun,
Chicago,, Illinois, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Lester Asher, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at
Chicago, Illinois, on December 21, 23, and 24, 1942. The Company
and the' Guild appeared and participated: ' Both parties were af-
forded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine
witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial
Examiner's rulings are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
1 Although notice was served,on Chicago Editorial Association and Newspaper Commer-
cial Associates, both affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, neither appeared.
46 N. L. R. B., No. 165 '
1335
1336 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
affirmed. On January 7 and 8, 1943, the Guild and the Company, re-
spectively, filed briefs which the Board has considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the -Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Marshall Fieldan individual, is engaged in the publication of
The Chicago Sun, a daily and Sunday 'newspaper. The Company
has a daily circulation in excess of 300,000, of which about 10 percent
is outside the State of Illinois, and a Sunday circulation- in excess
of 400,000, of which about 27 percent is outside the State of Illinois.,
Materials purchased annually are valued in excess of $1,000,000. Ap-
proximately 26 percent of these purchases originate outs ide'the' State
of Illinois. The annual income from advertising is in_, excess,,of
$1,000,000, approximately,27 percent of which is derived from ad-
vertisers in 'States 'other than Illinois: The`'Company maintains
staffs at Washington, D. C., New York City, Los Angeles, California`,
and London; and uses 'the se'rv'ices; bf United Press and 'Reuters, `as
well as cables and interstate telegraph `and' telephone wires: The
Company admits it is engaged in coinrlieice',v6thin the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.-
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Chicago Newspaper Guild, Local 71, of the American Newspaper
Guild, affiliated with the. Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a
labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
.
IIL' THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On October 22, 1942, the Guild requested recognition as the bar-
gaining agent for employees of the Company. On October 27, 1942,
the Company refused the, request by stating that it would not enter
into collective bargaining until the Guild had been certified by ,the
Board. '
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into 'evidence
at the hearing, indicates that the Guild represents a substantial
number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
2 The Regional Director repot tr' that t '- e Guild submitted 6 designation petitions and
0 authorization cards, bearingJ GT• : i natui's ; all of which are apparently genuine and
original ; that 131 signatures are the minces of persons on the Company ' s pay roll of Novem-
ber 14, 1942 , which lists 323 persons within the alleged appropriate unit ; and that 126 of
the 131 designations were dated from February to November 1942 and 5 were undated.
MARSHALL FIELD 1337
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 parties agreed substantially that all employees of the editorial
and news departments of the Chicago office, excluding major execu-
tives and confidential secretaries,', constitute an appropriate unit.
They disagreed as to the inclusion or exclusion of the following nine
employees : the four assistant city editors, Emil Hubka, John L. Sul-
livan, E. W. Williamson, and Debs Myers; the secretary to the fea-
ture editor, Patricia McHugh; the assistant head of the copy desk,
Van Allen Bradley, Jr.; the head librarian, P. E. Vogel; the assistant
sports editor, Harry MacNamara; and the financial editor, O. M.-
Smucker. The Company seeks to exclude the first seven as being
within the exclusion agreed upon. The Guild would exclude the
last two, apparently on the ground that they are supervisory.
The assistant city editors are under the direct supervision of the city
editor, who in turn is one of numerous editors subordinate to the ad-
ministrative editor, the managing editor, and their assistants. The
assistant city editors are the immediate supervisors of a local staff
composed of reporters and re-write men. As such they are not major
executives. Neither are they supervisory in the sense of handling
personnel problems. Their principal duties consist of making assign-
ments to reporters and approving copy before it is passed on to the copy
readers. Two of the assistant city editors testified that they did not
have the authority to hire or discharge, increase or decrease salaries, or
arrange work schedules or vacations, but that if such matters came to
their attention, they would consult with the city editor who has such
authority. The witnesses stated that assistant city editors could and
do make recommendations as to increases in salaries and the hiring of '
new employees; bait it is also apparent that fellow reporters and other
employees make similar recommendations. Several witnesses familiar
with newspaper work stated that the duties and functions of the as;
sistant city editors are the, same as those of assistant city-editors on
other large morning newspaper's. Assistant city editors are eligible to
Guild membership, and in fact three of *those here, involved are Guild
members. 'Ordinarily where such employees are not major executives
or heads of large departments; perform little, if any, supervisory func-
tions, and are eligible to union membership, the Board has included'
3 The parties agreed to exclude 19 employees , and, as they are not in dispute, we shall
exclude them. They are : editor, Catledge ; managing editors , Akers , Mulroy, and Ryan ;
icws editor , Taylor ; secretaries , Burkland, Graham, Kelly, Shafer ; head copy reader,
Davenport ; Sunday editor , Bush ; feature editor,. Douglas ; editorial waiter , Smothers ;
city editor, Felt ; wire traffic superintendent , Mackenzie ; spot is editor, Brown ; financial
editor , Hanna ; artists manager , Chilcote ; and photographic manager, Mantner.
1338 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
them within the appropriate unit.4 Accordingly, we shall include the
assistant city- editors.
McHugh, secretary to the feature editor, has charge of departmental
records, takes dictation, and handles correspondence, including inter-
ofce memoranda and correspondence relating to jobs or suggestions
for feature stories. She also handles 'routine details in the payment of
vouchers for stories from free-lance contributors. In prior newspaper
cases we have excluded secretaries to major or ranking executives, or
those whose duties include - the 'handling of confidential matters.5
Although the feature editor 6 was excluded by agreement as the head
of a large department, he is not a major executive in the same sense as
itie administrative and managing, editors and their assistants, whose
secretaries were appropriately excluded. McHugh apparently per-
forms duties similar to those of secretaries of other departmental
heads, whose inclusion was not disputed. We shall include her in
the unit.
Bradley, Jr., is an assistant to and under the direct supervision
of Davenport, the head of the copy desk. He acts in Davenport's
place when the latter" is absent, which occurs usually from I p. in. to
4 p. in. daily, and during Davenport's day off. When Davenport is
present, Bradley,.Jr., acts as a regular copy reader. He testified that
when he acts as head-of the copy desk, generally referred to as "slot"
man, his duties consist of checking the news as it comes in from' the
news room, and passing it out to the copy readers, who in turn edit
the stories and write in headlines and subheads. He stated that he
"might" make recommendations as to hiring but that he had not done
so, nor had he consulted with the head of the copy desk as to the hir-
ing or discharging of any employees. He stated further that he had
no authority to,increase or decrease salaries nor to alter the working
schedules' of other copy readers. Assistant heads of copy desks are
eligible for Guild membership, and are ordinarily covered by Guild
contracts. We shall include the assistant head of the copy desk in the
unit.
' See Matter of Seattle Times Company and Seattle Newspaper Guild, Local 82, affiliated
with American Newspaper Guild, C 1 0, 46,N L R B 1019; and Matter of Brooklyn
Daily Eagle and Newspaper Guild of New York, 13 N L It. B 974.
S See Matter of Brooklyn Daily Eagle and Newspaper Guild of New York,\13 N. L. R B
974; and Matter of The New York Times Company and American Newspaper Writers'
Association, Federal Local No 22397, affiliated with the American Editorial Association,
National Council , affiliated with the American Fede,ation of Labor, et al, 32 N L. It. B.
928 See, also Matter of Evening, News Association, Publisher of the Detroit News and
Newspaper Guild of Detroit (C. I. 0.), 42 N L. R B 763; Matter of American Newspapers,
1"c , Illinois Publishing and Printing Company, Evening American Publishing Company
and Chicago Newspaper Guild, Local 71, of the American Newspaper Guild, et ' al., 22
N. L: R. B . 899; and Matter of Clei,°l;rnd Company, Publisher of the Cleveland News and
Cleveland Newspaper Guild, Local 1 (C I O ) 19•N. L. R B 435.'
e Douglas is listed on the pay roll as a Sunday editor , but ,testified that since December
4, 1942, he has been the feature editor.
MARSHALL FIELD 1339
Vogel, as head librarian, is charged with the usual duties of main-
taining a newspaper reference library. He' has 12 employees in his
department over whom he has complete authority to hire and dis-
charge. We shall exclude the head librarian because he is a super-
visory employee.
MacNamara is the only assistant sports editor, and as such-exercises
general supervision over the entire department, especially during the
frequent absences of the sports editor. The sports department has its
own news and copy desks. MacNamara testified that he had assisted
in the hiring of the sports department employees and that -he has
authority. to arrange work schedules, and to recommend increases or
decreases in pay, and dismissals. The Board has customarily excluded
sports editors and assistants where it was shown that they exercised
considerable supervisory authority in their 'departments.' We shall
exclude the assistant sports editor from the unit. , -
Smucker is the financial editor and is under Hanna, the business
editor. Smucker, testified that Hanna had delegated to him the opera-
tion of the financial department. It is apparent from the record that
Smucker has authority to hire employees and that he exercises author-
ity similar to that of MacNamara in the sports department. For the
same reason that we exclude the assistant sports editor, we shall ex-
elude the financial editor."
We find that all employees of the editorial and news departments
of the Company's Chicago office, including the assistant city editors,
the secretary to the feature editor, and the assistant head of the copy
desk, but excluding major executives, confidential secretaries, the
head librarian, the assistant sports editor, and the financial editor,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing 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
employees 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.
7 See Matter of Evening News Association , Publisher of the Detroit News and News-
paper Guild of Detroit (C. I. 0.), 42 N L. It. B. 763; and Matter of The New York Times
Company and American Newspaper Writers' Association, Federal Local No. 22897, affiliated
with the American Editoilal Association, National Council, affiliated with the American
federationb of Labor, et al, 32 N. L It . B. 928.
° See cases in footnote 7 and Matter of Brooklyn Daily Eagle and Newspaper Guild of
New York, 13 N L. It. B. 974.
I
1340 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Marshall Field,
doing business as The Chicago Sun, Chicago, Illinois, 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 supervision of the Regional Director for the Thir-
teenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor
Relations Board, and subject toy Article III, Section 10, 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 em-
ployees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they
were ill-or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including em-
ployees in the armed forces of the United States who present them-
selves in person at the polls, but excluding any who have since quit
or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented by Chicago Newspaper Guild, Local 71, of
the American Newspaper Guild, affiliated- with the, Congress of
Industrial • Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining.