Crosley Broadcasting of Atlanta, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsAug 18, 1953

106 N.L.R.B. 795 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

CROSLEY BROADCASTING OF ATLANTA, INC. 795 ployer in Kalamazoo. When he is not driving a truck, he helps with manual labor in the job press department. We do not believe that the interests of the drivers whom the Petitioner seeks to sever from the existing production and maintenance unit are materially distinct from those of the other production and maintenance employees. On the basis of the entire record, including the fact that the drivers have been represented as part of the existing production and maintenance unit for approximately 9 years, we find that the unit requested by the Petitioner is not appropriate.5 Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition. [The Board dismissed the petition.] Member Peterson, concurring: Although I agree with my colleagues in their conclusion that the truckdrivers are not entitled to separate representation, I do so only because of the substantial bargaining history on an overall basis and the absence of other factors which would warrant their severance from the established unit.6 5Cf. General Electric Company, 105 NLRB 921. 6See my dissenting opinion in W. C. Hamilton and Sons, 104 NLRB 627. CROSLEY BROADCASTING OF ATLANTA, INC.' andTELE- VISION BROADCASTING STUDIO EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL 845, INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF THEATRICAL STAGE EMPLOYEES AND MOVING PICTURE MACHINE OPERATORS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, A.F.L., Petitioner. Case No. 10-RC-2224. August 18, 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 John C. Carey, Jr., hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby af- firmed. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board had delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Farmer and Members Murdock and Peterson]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean- ing of the Act. 'At a reopened hearing on May 4, 1953, Crosley Broadcasting of Atlanta, Inc., stipulated that it was the present Employer of the employees involved herein. Accordingly , the Peti- tioner ' s motion to amend its petition by substituting as Employer , Crosley Broadcasting of Atlanta, Inc., in place of Broadcasting , Inc., WLTV, is hereby granted. 106 NLRB No. 126. 796 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent cer- tain employees of the Employer.2 3. 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. 4. The appropriate unit: The Petitioner and the Employer agree that all engineering department technicians at the Employer ' s Atlanta, Georgia, television studio and transmitter , including transmitter tech- nicians , audio - video control , technicians, cameramen, and projectionists , but excluding all other employees, janitors, the department secretary , the chief engineer , the assistant chief engineer , and all other supervisors as defined in theAct, constitute an appropriate bargaining unit. ' The Intervenor agrees with the composition of the unit , but moves to dismiss the petition on the ground that a single television - station unit is inappropriate . The Intervenor contends that the appropriate unit should be a multistation unit consisting of all engineering department technicians employed at each of the five television and radio stations operated by the Employer' s parent corpo- ration, Crosley Broadcasting Company, and its subsidiaries. As its alternate position , the Intervenor would accept the single - station unit proposed by the Petitioner. The Intervenor's primary unit position is predicated upon its collective -bargaining relations with Crosley Broadcasting Company and its subsidiary stations . However, the record discloses that the bargaining relationship existing between the Intervenor , Crosley Broadcasting Company, and Crosley's subsidiaries, has uniformly been on a single-station basis. In the absence of a bargaining history on a multistation basis, and in view of the geographical dispersion of the various radio and television stations4 which the Intervenor seeks to include in one multistation unit, we find , contrary to the Intervenor's contention , that the single-station unit sought by the Petitioner is appropriate .' Accordingly, the Intervenor ' s motion to dis- miss the petition is denied. The Petitioner in opposition to the Employer and the Inter- venor would exclude the chief studio technician, the acting night technician , the chief transmitter technician , and the acting film manager as supervisors within the meaning of the Act. These employees do the bulk of the maintenance work on 2 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers , Radio Broadcast Technicians Local Union No 1193, AFL, was permitted to intervene. 3The Petitioner and the Employer are in dispute , however , as to the inclusion of certain job classifications which are later discussed 4The radio and television stations operated by Crosley Broadcasting Company and its sub- sidiaries are located in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Columbus , Dayton, and New York City. The Atlanta station is approximately 400 miles distant from the nearest of the above-mentioned stations. 5Cf. Holland Furnace Company, 95 NLRB 1339. CROSLEY BROADCASTING OF ATLANTA, INC. 797 the machines and equipment in the studio, transmitter, and film subdepartments, which comprise the engineering depart- ment, and are responsible to the chief engineer for the upkeep and operation of this equipment. By virtue of their experience and responsibilities, they receive approximately 20 percent more in wage s than the employees with whom they work. They have no authority to hire, fire, or discipline, or effectively to recommend such action. In these circumstances we find that they are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act. Accordingly, we find that the following unit of employees at the Employer's Atlanta, Georgia, television studio and trans- mitter is appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain- ing within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All engineering department technicians including transmitter technicians, audio-video control technicians, cameramen and projectionists, the chief studio technician, the acting night technician, the chief transmitter technician, and the acting film manager , but excluding all other employees, janitors, the department secretary, the chief engineer , the assistant chief engineer , and all other supervisors as defined in the Act.6 5. The Employer asserts that it is at present undergoing an expansion program which will increase the unit herein found to be appropriate from approximately 23 employees to ap- proximately 33 employees within a period of 3 to 8 months. The Employer's expansion program calls for the construction of a new transmitter and studio and the acquisition of a mobile unit. At the time of the hearing, the final plans for the con- struction of the studio had not been submitted to the Employer's board of directors, while the building of the transmitter was still in the drafting stage. Moreover, the contemplated increase in the number of technicians will be in classifications which are already in existence . As the Employer is still, in the process of formulating and adopting its expansion program, and as the employment complement in the unit at the present time is a substantial and representative segment of the working force which will eventually be employed, we shall, in accord with our usual practice, direct an immediate election.? [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 6As the one part-time technician employed by the Employer performs the same duties as the full-time technicians , regularly works a specified number of hours each week , and has a reasonable expectancy of continued employment , we shall include him in the unit and shall permit him to vote in this election. 'Cf. Hollywood Maxwell Co., 97 NLRB 70; Electro Metallurgical Company, 97 NLRB 230.