WTTV

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 23, 1956

115 N.L.R.B. 535 (N.L.R.B. 1956)

WTTV 535
are under the direct control of the concessionaire, and that Curtiss,
which pays a "flat fee" for the concessionaire service, is reimbursed by
the, concessionaire for its wage payments to the cafeteria employees.
The record contains no mention of elements of ultimate control, if any,
which are retained by Curtiss. Upon this record, we find that the
concessionaire, and not Curtiss, controls the essential terms and con-
ditions. of the employment of the cafeteria employees. Accordingly,
we shall exclude the cafeteria employees from the unit.'
The Employer would include the timekeepers and cost clerks as
plant clerical employees. The Petitioner contends these employees
should be excluded because they work in the office spaces of the various
plants. The record herein does not reveal the specific nature or the
scope of the duties performed by these employees. Accordingly, we
are unable to determine their proper unit placement at this time.
These employees may therefore vote in the election subject to chal-
lenge.
The following 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 production and maintenance employees of the Employer's plants,
Nos. 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 10, including plant clerical employees, matrons,
janitors , and locker room attendants at these plants and at the Bel-
mont Street main office, but excluding office clerical employees located
at the Belmont Avenue office building or at other offices in the plants
of the Employer, cafeteria employees, nurses , guards, watchmen, and
supervisors as described in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
See WeiU a Inc., 108 NLRB 731, 733.
WTTV, a Division of Sarkes Tarzian, Inc.' and Local 1225, Inter-
national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO,2 Peti-
tioner. Case No. 35-IBC-1165. February 23, 1956
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 H. Hendrickson, hear-
ing 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 meaning of
the Act.
2 The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
2 mhe name of the Petitioner appears as amended at the hearing.
115 NLRB No. 88.
536 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. WTTV, a division of Sarkes Tarzian, Inc., is engaged in produc-
ing and transmitting television shows. WTTV's main offices and
studios are located in Bloomington, Indiana; additional studios and
its sales offices are located in Indianapolis, Indiana; and its trans-
mitters are located in Cloverdale, Indiana. The operations of WTTV
are divided among three distinct departments : engineering; program
production ; and sales.
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all engineering department employees,
plus video switchers and cameramen-film editors. In the alternative,
the Petitioner seeks two separate units : one unit of engineering de-
partment employees, and another unit of the cameramen-film editors
and video switchers. The Employer contends the appropriate unit
should consist either of the engineering department employees alone,
or all the station's employees. There is no history of collective bar-
gaining.
Sixteen engineers, who work under the direction and supervision of
a chief engineer and two engineering supervisors, constitute the engi-
neering department. The engineers operate the transmitters and
master control board and maintain, service, repair, and adjust elec-
tronic equipment. They are all skilled technicians who must have a
knowledge of electronic equipment. All the engineers, except one who
works in a stockroom, are licensed by the FCC. The pay of the engi-
neers is about 25 to 30 percent higher than that of other employees at
the station. There is no employee interchange between the other
departments and the engineering department. During rush periods
the engineer stock clerk may assist the licensed engineers in the per-
formance of their duties.
The cameramen-film editors and the video switchers are grouped
with directors, floormen, photo copy employees, newsreel men, an-
nouncers, art copy employees, traffic employees, and commercial con-
tinuity employees to constitute the Employer's program production
department. This department is under the direction of a program
manager. The cameramen-film editors manipulate the cameras when
live shows are on the air. When they are not operating the cameras
for live shows they edit film and prepare it for future programs. The
video switchers switch shows being photographed from one camera
to another. They also switch the program from the local station to
the network.
It appears from the foregoing that the employees of the engineering
department form a cohesive homogeneous 'group of employees with
CRANSTON PRINT WORKS. COMPANY 537
sufficient community. of interest to constitute an appropriate bargain-
ing unit 3
In determining the unit placement of employees in job classifications
similar to the cameramen and video switchers, the Board has included
them in units together either with the engineering department or
program department personnel, depending on the organizational setup
of the particular station involved 4 Here it is clear that the camera-
men and video switchers are part of the program production depart-
ment. Furthermore, these employees are not required to have any
technical knowledge as are the engineers. They are not as highly
paid as the engineers, and they do not interchange with the engineers.
In view of the foregoing we shall not include them in the unit with
the engineering department employees.
Further, as the cameramen-film editors and video switchers are a
segment of the program production department, they do not by them-
selves constitute a separate unit for bargaining purposes.
We find that all engineering department employees at WTTVin-
eluding the stockroom clerk, but excluding cameramen, video switch-
ers, all othere employees, office clericals, guards, the chief engineer.,
and other supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appro-
priate for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
See Empire Coil Co., Inc ., 106 NLRB 1069.
* See Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., 108 NLRB 1468, 1472 , and cases cited therein.
Cranston Print Works Company and Textile Workers Union of
America, AFL-CIO . Cases Nos. 11-CA-706 and 11-CA-765.
February 27,1956
DECISION AND ORDER
On January 6, 1955, Trial Examiner C. W. Whittemore issued his
Intermediate Report in the above-entitled proceedings, finding that the
Respondent had engaged in and was engaging in certain unfair labor
practices and recommending that it cease and desist therefrom and
take certain affirmative action, as set forth in the copy of the Inter-
mediate Report attached hereto. Thereafter, the Respondent filed
exceptions to the Intermediate Report and a supporting brief.' Pur-
1 The Respondent also filed a motion to reopen the record to include among the exhibits
a copy of a collective -bargaining agreement alleged to have been entered into after the
hearing in this case. This motion is opposed by the General Counsel. As the parties have
not had opportunity to litigate the further facts surrounding the execution of such docu-
ment, and as in any event we find the contract immaterial to our disposition of the issues
hereinafter set forth , the motion is hereby denied.
115 NLRB No. $9.