KIRO TV

National Labor Relations Board - Unpublished Board DecisionsMar 29, 2012

19-UC-000775 (N.L.R.B. Mar. 29, 2012)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD KIRO TV Employer and Cases 19-UC-000775 INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL 46 Petitioner ORDER Employer’s Request for Review of the Acting Regional Director’s Decision and Order Clarifying Unit is denied as it raises no substantial issues warranting review.1 MARK GASTON PEARCE, CHAIRMAN BRIAN E. HAYES, MEMBER RICHARD F. GRIFFIN, JR., MEMBER Dated, Washington, D.C., March 29, 2012. 1 In denying review of the Acting Regional Director’s decision, we find that WLVI, Inc., 349 NLRB 683 (2007), cited by the Employer, is distinguishable. In that case, the Board determined that even though the employee in question, a video journalist, performed the unit work of editing and filming, he was “first and foremost” a reporter, a nonunit position, as his unit tasks were “incidental” to his basic work of reporting stories. Id. at 685-685, applying the framework set forth in The Sun, 329 NLRB 854, 859 (1999). Notably, the creation of the video journalist position in WLVI did not result in any layoffs or the elimination of any job classifications, and a new (outside) candidate was hired to fill the position. Here, by contrast, much of the work performed by those in the Employer’s newly created Ignite Director position was work previously performed by employees in three eliminated unit job classifications – Audio Operators, Studio Camera Operators, and Technical Directors – as demonstrated by the layoff of 10 to 12 employees in those classifications. Many of the employees who were chosen to fill the Ignite Director position had previously worked for the Employer as unit Technical Directors. Thus, unlike the video journalist position in WLVI, the Employer’s creation of the Ignite Director position was essentially a consolidation of duties previously performed by other job classifications, all but one of which had been in the unit. In these circumstances, the unit duties performed by Ignite Directors cannot be said to be “merely incidental to their primary work function or an otherwise insignificant part of their work.” The Sun, supra.