California Inland Broadcasting Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsOct 13, 1953

106 N.L.R.B. 1259 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

CALIFORNIA INLAND BROADCASTING COMPANY 1259 CALIFORNIA INLAND BROADCASTING COMPANY and IN- TERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORK- ERS, LOCAL NO. 202, AFL, Petitioner. Case No. 20-RC-2314. October 13, 1953 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Albert Schneider, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. i Upon the entire record in this case, 2 the Board finds: 1. The Employer, a California corporation, with its business offices and studios in Fresno, California, operates an AM and an FM radio station, as an integrated enterprise, with AM and FM transmitters located at Monsen and Meadow Lakes, California, respectively. The AM station, KFRE, is an affiliate of the Columbia Broadcasting System. The Employer subscribes to the United Press Service, devotes approximately 8 hours per day of KFRE time to national network programs, and its yearly revenue exceeds $100,000, approximately one-third of which is obtained from out-of-State sources. The Employer neither ad- mits nor denies that it is engaged in commerce. We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act, and that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction in this case. H 2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to repre- sent certain employees of the Employer. 3. At the hearing, the Employer contended that there was no question of representation before the Board , as it has recog- nized the Petitioner as the bargaining representative of its employees in the appropriate unit for many years, and is will- ing to continue to do so. At the time of the hearing, the Employer and the Petitioner were in the process of negotiating another agreement. The Petitioner contends, and the Board has held, that the fact that a petitioning union is recognized by an employer does not preclude the existence of a question con- cerning representation.4 Moreover, as indicated below, there is a dispute over the composition of the bargaining unit. We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. i The Employer's motion to dismiss the petition on the ground that no question concerning representation existed was reserved for ruling by the Board. For reasons stated in section 3, below, the motion is hereby denied 2 The Employer's request for oral argument is denied because in our opinion the record, including the briefs of the Employer and the Petitioner, adequately presents the issues and the positions of the parties. s WBSR, Inc., 91 NLRB 630. Chairman Farmer and Member Rodgers concur in the assertion of jurisdiction in this case but are not to be deemed thereby as agreeing with the Board's present jurisdictional standards. 4General Box Company, 82 NLRB 678; The Mengel Co, 103 NLRB 748. 106 NLRB No. 218. 1260 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 4. The appropriate unit: The Petitioner seeks a unit of all broadcast technicians em- ployed by the Employer at Fresno, Monsen, and Meadow Lakes, California, in work in connection with the installation, operation, and maintenance of radio broadcast, television (including video cameras, projectors, and film editing), voice facsimile, re- broadcast, and other apparatus, by means of which electricity is applied in the transmission or transference, production or reproduction, of voice, sound, or vision, with or without ethe- real aid, and including the cutting and/or processing and/or spinning of records, transcriptions, and tapes. The Employer presently operates an AM radio station, KFRE, with a transmitter at Monsen, California, and an FM station, KFRM, with a transmitter at Meadow Lakes, California. Its offices and studios are located at Fresno in that State. The Employer has since 1942 recognized and executed suc- cessive contracts with the Petitioner as the bargaining repre- sentative of its broadcast technicians for the transmitter and studio of KFRE. The broadcast technician-announcers of KFRM were subsequently included in the agreen}ents . The Employer's latest contract with the Petitioner, effective June 23, 1950, expired on June 30, 1953. This contract included television tech- nicians, as well as the aforesaid broadcast technicians, although no employees of the former category were then employed by the Employer. The Employer presently employs the following employees who the parties agree should be included in the appropriate unit: 4 broadcast technicians at its studios inFresno, 4 broad- cast technicians at its AM transmitter at Monsen, and 2 broad- cast technician-announcers at its FM transmitting facilities at Meadow Lakes. Although, at the hearing, the Employer took no formal posi- tion with respect to the appropriateness of the requested unit, it indicated in the record and contended in its brief to the Board that television technicians (including video camera operators, projectionists, operators of illuminating equipment, and film editors) should not be included in the unit because no employees of these job categories are presently employed, or have been employed in the past, and the Employer has no plans for hiring such employees in the immediate future. The Employer further contends that employees of certain of these categories, even if presently employed, should not be included in a technicians unit. In early 1952, the Employer purchased certain television broadcasting equipment, i.e., live television cameras, television film cameras, motion picture projectors, microphones, turn- tables, etc., and offered training in its use to all employees on a voluntary basis. The Employer will use all of the above equip- ment in the operation of its projected television station, if the permit for which it has applied is granted. The above equipment has been used mostly in experiments and training programs, including some demonstrations and a few closed circuit tele- casts. KFRE employees who were not actually engaged in regu- EASTERN IRON & METAL COMPANY 1261 lar KFRE operations were permitted to operate this equipment during the closed circuit telecasts and demonstrations. In de- monstrations and telecasts the live television cameras have been operated by announcers and broadcast technicians, but primarily by the latter, whereas the television filmcameras and the pro- jectors have been operated by technicians and others on a 50-50 basis. The television equipment has been set up and taken down by the technicians. All television film editing has been done by the vice president in charge of programs. The Employer and another radio station in Fresno have filed applications with the Federal Communications Commissionfor television broadcasting permits and both are seeking the use of the same television channel. The Employer estimates, and the Petitioner agrees, that , even if it receives the permit, its television station will not be in operation prior to January 1, 1955, and employees for its operation will not be needed until November 1, 1954. In view of the foregoing facts, more particularly the fact that there appears to be no reasonable likelihood that employees of the disputed job categories will be employed in the near future, and for the further reason that we are unable to ascertain from the present record what the future duties and skills of such employees might be, we shall make no present determination as to their inclusion in the unit.' We therefore find that all broadcast technicians, including technician-announcers , employed by the Employer at Fresno, Monsen, and Meadow Lakes, California, in work in connection with the installation, operation, and maintenance of radio broad- cast , voice, facsimile, rebroadcast, and other apparatus, by means of which electricity is applied in the transmission or transference , production or reproduction, of voice or sound, and including cutting and/or processing and/or spinning of records, transcriptions, and tapes , excluding announcers, professional employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur- poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 'Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., 97 NLRB 566, 571; Chrysler Corporation, 98 NLRB 1105; United States Time Corporation, 86 NLRB 724, 727. EASTERN IRON & METAL COMPANY and LODGE 1570, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, AFL, Petitioner . Case No . 16-RC-1311. October 14, 1953 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held on June 25, 1953, 106 NLRB No. 220.