Trans-American Video, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 11, 1972

198 N.L.R.B. 1247 (N.L.R.B. 1972)

TRANS-AMERICAN VIDEO, INC. 1247
Trans-American Video , Inc.' and International Sound
Technicians , Local 695, International Alliance of
Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture
Machine Operators of the United States and
Canada, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 31-RC-1940
September 11, 1972
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS JENKINS
AND KENNEDY
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officer Alvin
Schwartz . Thereafter , the Regional Director for
Region 31 transferred this proceeding to the Nation-
al Labor Relations Board for decision . The Employer
and one of the two intervening unions, International
Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving
Picture Machine Operators of the United States and
Canada , AFL-CIO, hereinafter referred to as
IATSE, filed briefs.2
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
Act, the Board has delegated its authority in this
proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error . They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this proceeding, 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 labor organizations involved claim to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing 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.
The record shows that the Employer came into
existence in January 1971 for the purpose of
engaging in the rental and operation of video tape
equipment . In December 1971, the Employer pur-
chased the assets of Wolper Productions, Inc.,
hereinafter referred to as Wolper, a corporation
which was likewise engaged in the rental and
operation of video tape equipment , and also in live
I Name of the Employer as amended at the hearing.
2 IATSE and Local 659, IATSE, were permitted to intervene at the
hearing in accordance with Sec. 102.65 of the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations , Series 8, as amended.
3 Earlier in 1971, Wolper had become the successor to Hollywood Video
Center, hereinafter referred to as HVC, a corporation which, like the
Employer, was engaged in the rental and operation of video tape
equipment. Wolper made no changes in the operations undertaken by HVC,
except by adding live production. Wolper retained all HVC employees and
production. Although the Employer eliminated the
live production operations of Wolper, it continued
Wolper's other operations. The Employer retained,
in the same job classifications and with the same
duties, many of Wolper's employees, used Wolper's
physical facilities, maintained the same wage scales
and working conditions as Wolper, and honored
Wolper's existing collective-bargaining agreements
with the Intervenors.3
The Employer and the Intervenors argue that the
Petitioner's petition is barred by these agreements.
However, we find that the contract bar doctrine is
not applicable to the instant petition. The Employer's
voluntary assumption of the contracts of the Em-
ployer's predecessor, HVC, with IATSE and Local
659 was not expressed and in writing, and therefore
this assumption was ineffective to bar the petition.4
4. In its petition the Petitioner seeks a unit of "all
employees including but not limited to engineering
and maintenance employees, utility employees and
truckdrivers." In effect, the Petitioner seeks to
represent an employerwide unit of employees and
includes those employees represented by Intervenor
Local 659.
The principal objection to the unit sought is that it
includes three truckdrivers, who allegedly do not
share a community of interest with the employees in
the proposed unit. These three truckdrivers are
dispatched by the Employer from its general office
on Wilshire Boulevard. They are supervised by the
same supervisor as the rest of the Employer's
employees. Their basic function is to drive semi-
tractor trailers by which the Employer's equipment is
transferred from one location to another. They work
when work is available; if there is none they can elect
to go home, and when at home they are retained on
salary. Their primary function is driving, which takes
up most of their working time. The basic contact
these drivers have with the Employer's other employ-
ees is when they are met by a maintenance man at a
location site. A driver then might stay with the unit
or fly home. One truckdriver doubles as a utility
man.
In view of their community of interest and
supervision in common with the remainder of the
employees of the Employer, we find that the
one HVC supervisor, used the same physical facilities as those used by
HVC, absorbed all the equipment used by HVC, maintained the same wage
scales and working conditions as HVC, and voluntarily assumed and
honored HVC's collective-bargaining agreements with the Intervenors.
These agreements provided in part that they were to be effective February 1,
1970, and to continue until January 31, 1973. These agreements also
contained a clause binding HVC's successors as well.
4 American Concrete Pipe of Hawaii, Inc., 128 NLRB 720.
198 NLRB No. 186
1248 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
truckdrivers should be included in the unit sought by
the Petitioner.5
In accordance with all the foregoing , we find that
the following employees constitute a unit appropriate
for collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9(b) of the Act:
All employees of Trans -American Video, Inc.,
Los Angeles , California , including engineering,
maintenance , and utility employees and truckdri-
vers , but excluding office clerical employees,
guards, watchmen, and supervisors , as defined in
the Act.
[Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote
omitted from publication.]
a Fayette Manufacturing Co., Inc., Division of Dayton Steel Foundry, 193
NLRB No. 45; Marks Oxygen Company of Alabama, 147 NLRB 228.