Six Flags Over Georgia, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 16, 1974

215 N.L.R.B. 809 (N.L.R.B. 1974)

SIX FLAGS OVER GEORGIA, INC 809
Six Flags Over Georgia , Inc. and Local No. 41, Inter-
national Alliance of Theatrical State Employees and
Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United
States and Canada, Petitioner . Case 10-RC-10076
December 16, 1974
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS FANNING AND
JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing
was held before Hearing Officer Diane B. Williams.
Following the hearing and pursuant to Section 102.67
of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the Regional Direc-
tor for Region 10 issued an order transferring the case
to the Board for decision. Subsequent to the hearing,
the Employer and the Petitioner filed briefs with the
Board.'
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority ih this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rul-
ings made at the hearing and finds that they are free
from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the purposes
of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization within the
meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning
the representation of certain employees of the Em-
ployer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Sec-
tion 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all stage
technicians employed by the Employer at its Cobb
County, Georgia, location, excluding all other em-
ployees, professional employees, office clerical em-
ployees, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.
The Employer contends that the requested unit is inap-
propriate because the stage technicians are student em-
ployees hired only for the peak season of its operations
and that, when the season ends, they are not given any
definite commitment to be rehired during the succeed-
ing summers (the peak season). We find no merit in the
I The Employer's motion to supplement the record seeks to introduce
certain affidavit evidence bearing upon the current employment status of the
employees sought in the petition The Petitioner opposes the motion In our
view, the proffered affidavit would not in any material way alter or affect
the record testimony and, as a consequence, we see no justification for
receiving this affidavit into evidence over the Petitioner's objection Ac-
cordingly , the Employer 's motion is hereby denied
Employer's contentions for reasons stated, infra. Fur-
ther, the Employer contends that two of the seven stage
technicians are stage managers and should be excluded
on the ground that they are supervisors within the
meaning of Section 2(11) of the Act. The Petitioner
disagrees with the above contentions asserted by the
Employer. A discussion of the respective positions fol-
lows.
The Employer is engaged in the operation of an
amusement park located south of Atlanta, Georgia.
The park is open approximately 155 days annually
based on the following schedule: from March until June
the park is open 3 days each week (weekends); from
June through Labor Day it goes to a 7-day-week opera-
tion; and from Labor Day through December 1, for
weekend operation only.
The show operation involved in this proceeding is
called the Crystal Pistol. At the Crystal Pistol there are
two casts which consist of approximately 14 employees,
2 orchestras composed of approximately 14 musicians
each, and 7 stage technicians who are the subject of the
representation petition. There is also a Dixie Land
Band at the Crystal Pistol which is composed of six
musicians . With the exception of the stage technicians
sought by the Petitioner, all of the above musicians and
performers are represented by labor organizations. In
addition to the Crystal Pistol, there is also a puppet
show, a dolphin show, a Chevy show, and several other
special shows and amusements at the park. During the
peak season , the Employer utilizes the services of some
1,500 student employees to perform various duties
throughout the park.
The stage technicians' duties are to run lights, handle
sound, and perform other stage work during shows,
such as the raising and lowering of the curtains. They
also assist the stage managers in ensuring that the stage
equipment operates properly. The stage technicians are
all college students. Most of them major in subjects
such as lighting design , art, and journalism, which ar-
guably prepares them for the kind of duties they per-
form as stage technicians. However, it is clear that all
those hired require considerable on-the-job training.
The record does not establish whether or not the
Employer as a general rule looks for special back-
ground and experience qualifications in the students
that it selects for employment, but.it is clear that with
respect to stage technicians the Employer seeks stu-
dents with a particular type of background. Those se-
lected work at all times under the direction and super-
vision of the stage managers . Only on rare occasions do
they perform any work outside of the Crystal Pistol
theater and, as far as the record reveals, they are used
exclusively for performance of stage duties. Although
other student employees are shifted from other park
seasonal jobs to fill vacancies which sometimes occur
215 NLRB No. 153
810 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in the stage technician crews, this is done only in emer-
gency situations.
This Board has long recognized that stage techni-
cians have a separate and identifiable community of
interest apart from other employees by virtue of the
specialized nature of their job function, and historically
we have found such units to be appropriate.' While it
is true that the students involved here are relatively
inexperienced, they are nonetheless regularly perform-
ing the duties which one associates with the stage tech-
nician classification, and from the point of view of job
function there seems to be no rational distinction be-
tween the duties performed here by the students and
those of stage technicians generally.' The stage techni-
cians work in a location which is separate and apart
from that of most park employees and are under the
direction and supervision of the stage managers. If any
work-related community of interest exists between the
stage technicians and other employees at the park, it
would be with those performers and musicians em-
ployed at the Crystal Pistol theater. However, with the
exception of the stage technicians, all other employees
of the Crystal Pistol are currently represented by labor
organizations and, thus, the stage technicians can also
be said to constitute a residual grouping of all the un-
represented employees at the Crystal Pistol.'
While it is true that the Employer experiences a
heavy turnover among its stage technicians, many re-
turn each season looking for work and the Employer
welcomes them back since it reduces training costs.
Despite the fact that the Employer has no formal policy
concerning recall, the record shows that a substantial
portion of the stage technicians do come back to work
each season and they are rehired. Under these circum-
stances, and particularly since the regularity of their
employment indicates a relatively stabilized demand
for, and dependence on, such employees by the Em-
ployer and, likewise, a reliance on such employment by
a substantial number of stage technicians who return to
the Employer's operation each season, we find that
they are seasonal employees who share sufficient inter-
est in employment to warrant a finding that they con-
stitute a unit approriate for the purposes of collective
2 See, e g, American Zoetrope Productions, Inc, 207 NLRB 6' 1 (1973)
3 The Board's approach to excluding students from some units composed
of regular full-time employees is not applicable here because neither party
is urging the grouping of students with nonstudent employees
4 Rostone Corporation, 196 NLRB 467 (1972), and cases cited therein
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the
Act.
As stated, the Employer would exclude the stage
managers on the ground that they are supervisors while
the Petitioner seeks their inclusion. The uncontro-
verted record testimony establishes that the stage
managers are in charge of the overall operations at the
Crystal Pistol and that they have the authority to grant
time off for stage technicians, and that they have exer-
cised the authority to effectively recommend that disci-
plinary action be taken against stage technicians who
fail to perform as instructed. We note also that the
stage managers spend approximately one-half of their
worktime as stage managers and that, while so acting,
they earn approximately one-third more than the stage
technicians. Accordingly, we find that the stage
managers are supervisors within the meaning of the
Act and exclude them from the unit.'
On the basis of the foregoing, we find that the follow-
ing employees of the Employer constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All stage technicians employed by the Employer at
its Cobb County, Georgia, location, excluding all
other employees, the stage managers, professional
employees, office clerical employees, guards and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
As the Employer's operations are seasonal in nature
and result in wide variations in the number of personnel
employed at a given time, we shall not direct an im-
mediate election. Rather, in accordance with our usual
practice in operations of this kind, we shall direct that
the election be held at or about the approximate sea-
sonal peak, on a date to be aetermined by the Regional
Director, among the employees in the appropriate unit
who are employed during the payroll period immedi-
ately preceding the date of the issuance of the Notice
of Election by the Regional Director.
[Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote omit-
ted from publication.]
5 Member Fanning is not satisfied that the supervisory capacity of the
`stage managers ' has been established in this case , Compare Westinghouse
Broadcasting Company, Inc (WBZ-TVand WJZ-TV), 215 NLRB No 26
(1974), and Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, Incorporation
KYW-TV, 209 NLRB 788 (1974), enfd 503 F 2d 1055 (C A 2, 1974),
where producer directors were found not to be supervisors