Southern Radio and Television Equipment Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 25, 1953

107 N.L.R.B. 216 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

216 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
APPENDIX
NOTICE TO ALL EMPLOYEES
Pursuant to the recommendations of a Trial Examiner of the National Labor Relations
Board , and in order to effectuate the policies of the National Labor Relations Act, we hereby
notify our employees that:
WE WILL bargain collectively upon request with Amalgamated Plant Guards, Local
504, affiliated with International Union, United Plant Guard Workers of America, as the
exclusive representative of all employees in the bargaining unit described below with
respect to wages, rates of pay , hours of employment or other conditions of employment
and, if an understanding is reached, embody such understanding in a signed agreement.
The bargaining unit is:
All plant guards and other guards as defined in the Act, employed at our Allen-
town, Pennsylvania , plant but excluding professional employees and supervisors
as defined in the Act.
WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner interfere with, restrain , br coerce our
employees in the exercise of their right to self -organization , to form labor organiza-
tions, to join or assist the above - named union , or any other labor organization, to
bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing , and to engage in
concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or
protection All our employees are free to become or remain members of this union
or any other labor organization.
MACK MANUFACTURING CORPORATION,
Employer.
Dated... .. .
(Representative) (Title)
The notice must remain posted for 60 days from the date hereof, and must not be altered,
defaced, or covered by any other material
SOUTHERN RADIO AND TELEVISION EQUIPMENT COMPANY,
TELEVISION STATION WTVJ and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL NO.
349, AFL, Petitioner . Case No . 10-RC-2398 . November 25,
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 S. Patton,
hearing officer. The hearing officer ' s rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby af-
firmed. 1
i The Intervenor , International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture
Machine Operators of the United States and Canada , AFL, contends that the hearing officer
erred in granting the Employer's motion to revoke a subpena requiring the Employer to
produce certain records . We find no merit in this contention . We agree with the hearing
officer that the records sought relate to matters fully covered by the record and would be
merely cumulative in nature.
107 NLRB No. 67.
SOUTHERN RADIO AND TELEVISION EQUIPMENT COMPANY 217
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent
certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a single unit of employees in both
the production and engineering departments. The Employer
agrees that this is the appropriate unit. The Intervenor seeks
to represent the foregoing employees in separate departmental
units. Both the Petitioner and the Intervenor agree that the
employees in the program-planning unit, a subdivision of the
production department, should be excluded from any unit
found appropriate, as not having any community of interest
with the rest of the employees, while the Employer contends
they should be included. The Petitioner and Employer would
exclude the film cameramen and news editors, while the
Intervenor takes no position.
The Employer is engaged in producing and transmitting
television programs at its station in Miami, Florida. There
is no history of collective bargaining.
Apart from the program-planning unit, the primary duties
of the production-department employees are to operate tele-
vision cameras and microphone booms, handle cables, push
dollies, move scenery and props, arrange sets, and operate
lights and associated equipment. They are separately super-
vised.
The employees in the engineering department are, in the
main, skilled technicians who operate the electronic equipment,
and usually work in the control booth, master control room,
or transmitter site. More than half the employees in the
engineering department have FCC licenses. The engineering
department employees are also separately supervised.
The production department and engineering department
employees work in close conjunction, coordinating the various
phases in the production and transmission of a television pro-
gram. On the other hand, the duties of the employees in each
department are unique, and there is little transfer of employ-
ees from one department to the other.
Under such circumstances, the Board has held that either
a single, two-departmental unit or separate units may be
appropriate.2 However, as the Intervenor has failed to make
the necessary 30-percent showing of interest among the
employees in either of the departments, we shall not direct
elections in separate units. We shall, nevertheless, place the
Intervenor' s name on the ballot, as it has made some showing
of interest among the employees sought.
2 Empire Coil No. Inc. , 106 NLRB 1069; KTTV, Inc., 97 NLRB 1477.
2 18 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The program planning unit: 3 There are approximately eight
employees in the program planning unit. Their primary duties
are to plan the show under consideration, writing the scripts
and determining the material , such as scenery tobe used in it.
They also meet the sponsors and prepare program logs which
are used by operating personnel and also distributed for publica-
tion to newspapers. Program-planning employees do not
usually handle or operate any of the physical equipment or
material used in putting on the television shows. In the course
of their duties they are, of necessity, in close contact with the
other employees in the production department as well as the
engineering department. The Board has previously determined
that all employees, other than technicians, who contribute to
the presentation of, but do not appear on, television programs
form an identifiable, cohesive unit and may constitute an
appropriate bargaining unit.4 Accordingly, we find that the
program planning employees may be included with the other
production department employees in the single two-depart-
mental unit found appropriate here.
Film cameramen and news editors: The film cameramen
shoot motion picture film. This work is done away from the
television station. They then bring the film to the news editors
who develop it, and thereafter edit the pictures. The head-
quarters of the film cameramen and news editors is located
at another firm owned by the Employer, Reeler Film Corpora-
tion. The record indicates that their primary duties are for
the latter company, although they are paid by the Employer.
Under these circumstances, the film cameramen and news
editors do not appear to have a sufficient community of interest
with any of the employees sought and we shall therefore exclude
them from the unit.
There remains for determination the disposition of certain
other personnel.
The Intervenor contends that Lucas, assistant production
manager, and Hutcheson, engineering department assistant
supervisor, are supervisors within the meaning of the Act
and should be excluded. The Employer denies that they are
supervisors, while the Petitioner takes no position. The
record shows that Lucas' principal duty is to interview talent
for programs, and that he has the authority effectively to
recommend the hiring of applicants or to reject them. On
these facts, we find that Lucas is a supervisor and shall
exclude him. Hutcheson is assistant to Kline, engineering
department supervisor. In that capacity, he issues orders
and directions to employees in the engineering department
and has authority to reprimand them as well as to make
effective recommendations with respect to disciplining them.
We find that Hutcheson is also a supervisor and shall exclude
him.
3 This unit is also called traffic and copy
4 WCAU, Inc., 93 NLRB 1003
ASSOCIATED BUSINESS SERVICE 219
The Intervenor would exclude Norman Bean as a professional
employee. The Employer would include him, while the Peti-
tioner takes no position. Bean's primary function is develop-
ing new equipment and improving old, and he does considerable
research. He is required to exercise a high degree of inde-
pendent judgment and discretion in this specialized field. Bean
is a college graduate and has an engineering degree. In view
of the foregoing, we find that he is a professional employee and
shall exclude him.
We find that the following employees of the Employer con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production-department 5 and engineering-department em-
ployees at the Employer's television station at Miami, Florida,
including program-planning employees, but excluding company
officers, receptionist, administrative officer, clerical, per-
sonnel department and sales department employees, an-
nouncers, talent, film cameramen and news editors, profes-
sional employees, and all supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
5 The Intervenor would exclude as supervisors program directors, Bruton, Johns, and Zinn.
As the record is inconclusive regarding their duties and authority, we shall permit them to
vote subject to challenge. The record indicates that all production-department employees
take turns as program directors.
DOROTHY E. FITZPATRICK d/b/a ASSOCIATED BUSINESS
S E R V I C E ' and LOCAL 16, AMALGAMATED LITHO-
GRAPHERS OF AMERICA, CIO, Petitioner . Case No. 9-RC-
2052 . November 25, 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 Harold M.
Kennedy, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent
certain employees of the Employer. 2
I The Employer's name appears as corrected at the hearing.
2 Louisville Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union No. 28, International Printing Press-
men and Assistants Union of North America, AFL, submitted an adequate showing of interest
prior to the date of the hearing, but did not appear at the hearing when informed that it was
out of compliance with Section 9 (f) and (g) of the Act. Having effected compliance subsequent
to the hearing, it filed a motion with the Board to intervene in the instant proceeding and have
its name placed on the ballot in the election directed herein. We hereby grant the motion.
Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., 87 NLRB 597.
107 NLRB No. 65.