The McCuller Press, Inc., 1454 (1977)

The McCuller Press, Inc. and Graphic Arts International Union, Local 67-B, AFL-CIO-CLC and Graphic Arts International Union, Local 267, AFLCIO-CLC. Cases 16-CA-6401 and 16-CA-6528

January 24, 1977 DECISION AND ORDER

BY CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS

FANNING AND JENKINS

On August 27, 1976, Administrative Law Judge Walter H. Maloney, Jr., issued the attached Decision in this proceeding. Thereafter, Respondent filed exceptions and a supporting brief. The Charging Parties filed an answering 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 authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.

The Board has considered the record and the attached Decision in light of the exceptions and briefs and has decided to affirm the rulings, findings,' and conclusions of the Administrative Law Judge and to adopt his recommended Order.

ORDER

Pursuant to Section 10(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board adopts as its Order the recommended Order of the Administrative Law Judge and hereby orders that the Respondent, The McCuller Press, Inc., Dallas, Texas, its officers, agents, successors, and assigns, shall take the action set forth in the said recommended Order.

i The Respondent has excepted to certain credibility findings made by the Administrative Law Judge It is the Board 's established policy not to overrule an Administrative Law Judge's resolutions with respect to credibility unless the clear preponderance of all of the relevant evidence convinces us that the resolutions are incorrect Standard Dry Wall Products, Inc. 91

NLRB 544 (1950). enfd 188 F 2d 362 (C A 3, 1951). We have carefully examined the record and find no basis for reversing his findings We also find without merit Respondent 's allegations of bias on the part of the Administrative Law Judge Finally, we do not rely on N L R B v Burnup & Sims, Inc , 379 U S 21 ( 1964), in affirming the Administrative Law Judge's findings that Respondent violated Sec 8(aX3) of the Act by discharging Robert C Reagan and Mac Salazar DECISION

FINDINGS OF FACT

  1. Statement of the Case WALTER H. MALONEY, JR., Administrative Law Judge:

    This case came on for hearing before me at Dallas , Texas, upon a consolidated complaint,' issued by the Regional 227 NLRB No. 230

    Director for Region 16, which alleges that Respondent, The McCuller Press, Inc.,2 violated Section 8(axl) and (3) of the National Labor Relations Act. More particularly, the consolidated complaint alleges that Respondent unlawfully interrogated employees, threatened to sell the plant or close the business if the Union were successful in an organizing drive, and gave the impression to its employees that engaging in collective bargaining would be futile. The consolidated complaint also alleges that Respondent discriminatorily discharged Tommie Joe Rollins, Robert C.

    Reagan, and Mac Salazar. At the conclusion of its case in chief, the General Counsel deleted from the consolidated complaint, with the consent of the Charging Party, one allegation relating to threatening employees with loss of employment in reprisal for union activities and that portion of the complaint which alleged the unlawful discharge of Tommie Joe Rollins. Rollins, who has been reinstated, did not appear to testify pursuant to the subpena which had been served on him. Respondent denies the commission of any unfair labor practices which constitute independent violations of Section 8(a)(1) of the Act and states that Reagan and Salazar were discharged because of errors in press runs which caused Respondent serious financial loss.

    Upon these contentions, the issues herein werejoined 3

  2. The Unfair Labor Practices Alleged John Clements is the owner and chairman of the board of directors of Respondent, The McCuller Press, Inc. (McCuller). McCuller is an establishment employing about 12 or 14 production and maintenance employees and is engaged in general commercial printing. It has been in operation for many years but Clements did not purchase the Company until about 2 years ago. Clements is also the founder, owner, chairman of the board of directors, and director of image of another corporation known as Political Research,

    Incorporated (PRI). PRI is a research organization which compiles and publishes directones or encyclopedias of governmental information, both domestic and foreign, and supplements its publications by quarterly or semiannual services which update the information contained in the basic volumes. PRI is located in an office building in downtown Dallas where Clements spends most of his working time. He devotes little or no active working time to the operation of McCuller, which is located several blocks i The principal docket entries in this case are as follows Charge filed herein by Local 67-B, Graphic Arts International Union,

    AFL-CIO-CLC, on January 15, 1976, original complaint issued on February 25, 1976, answer of Respondent to the original complaint filed on March 8, 1976, charge in Case 16-CA-6528 filed by Local 267, Graphic Arts International Union, AFL-CIO-CLC, on March 30, 1976, consolidated complaint issued on April 20, 1976, Respondent's first amended answer filed on May 4, 1976, hearing held in Dallas, Texas, on June 21-23, 1976, briefs filed with me by the General Counsel, the Charging Party, and Respondent on or before August 9, 1976

    2 Respondent admits, and I find, that it is a Texas corporation which maintains its principal place of business in Dallas, Texas, where it is engaged in the commercial printing business During the past year, Respondent purchased and received at its Dallas, Texas, place of business from points and places located outside the State of Texas goods and merchandise valued in excess of $50,000. Accordingly, it is an employer engaged in commerce within the meaning of Sec 2(2), (6), and (7) of the Act Both Charging Parties are labor organizations within the meaning of Sec 2(5) of the Act.

    3 Certain errors in the transcript have been noted and are hereby corrected THE McCULLER PRESS 1455 away from the PRI office, and professes no expertise in the technical aspects of printing. Until the winter of 1975-76,

    McCuller was operated on a day-to-day basis by Allen Clements, John Clements' son, and by the other personnel at the printing plant who are familiar with the printing business. PRI is a customer of McCuller and has almost all of its printing done at this plant. PRI provides about 10 to 20 percent of the business done by McCuller. McCuller must have its binding done by other companies, such as Taylor Publishing Company, since it has no bindery operation.

    Late in the fall of 1975, McCuller changed the frequency with which it paid its hourly rated employees from weekly to biweekly. This change in payroll procedure prompted considerable resentment since employees were accustomed to receiving weekly paychecks. As a result, they addressed to Respondent's management a letter of protest which read:

    December 18, 1975

    To Whom it May Concern:

    We, the undersigned majority of Production employees for the McCullers Press, Inc., do hereby make known our contempt and dissatisfaction for the proposed change in Company Policy with regard to the Pay Periods. At this time, We DO NOT demand anything, however, in fairness to those on both sides of the issues,

    We hereby request a meeting to openly oppose this change.

    We feel very strongly that the change as stipulated, would create undue hardship on each and every one of us!!!!! The document was signed by 13 McCuller employees and was delivered by pressman Tommy Rollins to the office of Allen Clements at the printing plant. There is some dispute as to whether Rollins also delivered a copy to John Clements' office at PRI. There is no doubt that John Clements became aware of the circulation and presentation of the document and discussed it with his supervisors.

    Upon receiving the petition in question, Allen Clements called various employees into his office to talk with them.4

    One such employee was discriminatee Robert C. Reagan.

    Allen Clements discussed with Reagan his intention to give a pay increase to Reagan and to another employee, Tom Harmon, and the two of them also discussed second pressman Albert 'Sonny' Cooper. Allen Clements asked Reagan if he had heard anything about the Union coming into the plant. Reagan replied that he had not but admitted that he had been a union member on one occasion 4 or 5 years previously. Allen Clements told Reagan that a union would never get in at McCuller and that the Company would close its doors before it let this happen. Allen Clements also spoke with Cooper, telling him that his father would not go for unionization and stating further that his father would close the plant if the Union came in. In a 4 John Clements testified that, on December 19, the date after the presentation of the petition, he spoke with his son and fired him. However, he kept him on the payroll for several months thereafter and did not require that he leave the McCuller premises until after the first of 1976 Hence, it is clear discussion in the company office with employee Arthur T.

    Dunn, Jr., Allen Clements asked Dunn if he had read the petition before signing it and remarked to Dunn that this 'kind of smells of unionism.' Allen Clements told Dunn, a stripper employed on the second floor of the plant, that some of the pressmen downstairs claimed, when they were questioned, that they had not read the petition before signing it. Dunn disagreed with Allen Clements' statement about unionization, telling him that all the men were doing was complaining about being paid on a biweekly basis.

    Allen Clements told Dunn that the reason the Company moved to a biweekly payroll procedure was to save money and stated further that the Company would split the savings with the employees who were affected.

    Allen Clements also had a...

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