Paramount Pictures, Inc.

In the Matter of PARAMOUNT PICTURES, INC., FAMOUS MUSIC CORPORA- TION AND PARAMOUNT MUSIC CORPORATION and SCREEN OFFICE & PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES GUILD, LOCAL 109, UOP`VA (C. I. O) Case No. R-4228 SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES AND a ORDER February 19,1943 On October 29, 1942, the National Labor Relations Board issued a Decision and Direction' of Elections in the above-entitled proceeding., Pursuant to the Direction of Elections, five separate elections by secret ballot were conducted on November 23, 1942, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Second Region (New York City). On November 24, 1942, the Regional Director, acting pursuant to Article III, Section 10, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, issued an Election Re- port, copies of which were duly served upon the parties. As to the balloting and its results; the Regional Director reported as follows : Unit Number 1. Office employees at the Home Office Total on eligibility list -------------------------------------- 377 Total ballots cast -------------------------------------------- 346 Total ballots challenged ------------------------------------- 1 Total blank ballots------------------------------------------ 2 Total void ballots------------------------------------------- 0 Total valid votes counted ----------- ------------------------- Votes cast for Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild, 343 Local 109, UOPWA, C. I 0-------------------------------- 233 Votes cast for no Union ------------------------------------- 110 Unit Number 2. Office employees at the Exchange Office Total on eligibility list--------------------------------------- 29 Total ballots cast-------------------------------------------- 25 Total ballots challenged------------------------------------- 0 145 N L. R. B. 116. 47 N. L. R. B., No. 97. 513024-43-vol. 47-47 737 738 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Total blank ballots------------------------------------------ 0 Total void ballots------------------------------------------- '0 Total valid votes counted____________________________________ 25 Votes cast for Screen Office & Professional Employees, Guild, Local 109, UOPWA, C. I. 0-------------------------------- 7 Votes cast for International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees Local F-51, A. F. L____________________________ 17 Votes cast for Neither--------------------------------------- I Unit Number 3 Office employees at the News Office Total on eligibility list-------------------------------------- 18 Total ballots cast------------------------------------------- 18 Total ballots challenged_____________________________________ 0 Total blank ballots------------------------------------------ 0 Total void ballots ------------ •------------------------------- 0 Total valid votes counted____________________________________ 18 Votes cast for Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild, Local 109, UOPWA, C. I. 0-------------------------------- 6 Votes cast for No Union------------------------------------- 12 Unit Number 4. Office employees at the Music Companies' Office Total on eligibility list--------------------------------------- 16 Total ballots cast------------------------------------------- 11 Total ballots challenged------------------------------------- 0 Total blank ballots----------------------------------------- 0 Total void ballots-------------------------------=----------- 0 Votes cast for Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild, Local 109, UOPWA, C. I. 0-------------------------------- 9 Votes cast for No Union------------------------------------- 2 Unit Number 5 Porters, watchmen, and matron at the Home Office Total on eligibility list--------------------------------------- 12 Total ballots cast------------------------------------------- 9 Total ballots challenged------------------------------------- 0 Total blaiik ballots----------------------------------------- 0 Total void ballots------------------------------------------- 0 Total valid votes counted____________________________________ 9 Votes cast for Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild, - Local 109, UOPWA, C. I. O_________________________________ 8 Votes cast for No Union_____________________________________ 1 No objections to the conduct of the ballots or to the Election Report have been filed by any of the parties with respect to,the elections held in Units Number 1, Number 4, and Number 5 (respectively the unit of office employees at the Home,Office, the unit of office employees at the Music Companies' Office, and the unit of porters, watchmen, and matron -at the Home Ofice).- - On November 30, 1942, the-Guild filed with the Regional Director its objections to the Election Report, raising certain issues as to the elections held in Unit Number 2, the unit of office employees at the Exchange Office, and Unit Number 3, the unit of office employees at PARAMOUNT PICTURES, INC. 739 the News Office. The objections with respect to the election conducted i;'i Unit Number 2 are substantially similar to allegations contained in a charge,ancl a first amended charge against Paramount Pictures, Inc., herein called the Company, filed by the Guild on December 15, 1942, and January 19, 1943, respectively -2 Pending investigation and-dispo- sition of these charges, we shall postpone'passing on the Guild's objec- tions with respect to the election conducted in Unit Number 2. With respect to the election conducted in Unit Number 3, the unit of office employees at the News Office, the Guild's objections allege : (1) that on November 20, 1942, just prior to the election, the president of the Company wrote the employees a letter stating in part that "the law does not compel any employee to join a union," noting the possi- bility of 'the negotiation of a contract containing a maintenance-of-, membership clause between the Company and the Guild in the, event that the Guild was designated as bargaining agent by the employees, and explaining the effect of such a maintenance-of-membership clause; (2) "that on or about November 13, 1942, the Company gave written notice to each of the employees in Unit Number 3 of "a new method of payment of bonuses" and of the Company's "intention to apply to the War Labor Board with respect to the compensation of its employees," without mentioning the Guild or the Company's obligation "to deter- mine the terms and conditions of employment of its employees through negotiations with the collective bargaining agent to be chosen at the . . . election"; and (3) that the Company interfered with, re- strained, and coerced its employees "in the exercise of the right to self organization and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, during'the period prior to and of said election." ' On January 20, 1943, the Regional Director issued his Report on Objections, copies of which were duly served on the parties. He found that the Guild had made "no specific allegations" in support of its objection that the Company had interfered with, restrainedi and coerced its employees; that, with respect to the Company's bonus notice of November 13, 1942, `'there'is no connection between the Com- pany's bonus policy 'and the matter of the elections in the various units"; but that the letter of November 20, 1942, from the Company's president to its employees "served the purpose for which it was in- tended, in influencing the employees' votes against the [Guild] in the News unit 3." ' We agree with the Regional Director that the Guild's objections with respect to, the alleged ,interference, -restraint, and coercion and with respect to the'bonus notice of November 13, 1942, raise no sub- stantial or, ma,terial„issue,,with respect to the. cc,nduct of the ballot. 2Matter of Paramount Pictures, Inc. and Screen Office ct P>ofessional Employees Guild, Local 109, ITOPTVA (0. 1. 0 ), Case No. II-C-4996. 740 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The objection based on the alleged interference, restraint, and coer- cion makes no specific allegations and is not supported by affidavit or otherwise 8 The Company's notice of November 13, 1942, was the fifth of a series of notices issued by the Company to its employees on and after December 18, 1941, in connection with its policy of giving em- ployees a cost-of-living bonus; it announced no change in the amount of the bonus or in the method of its computation, but merely placed the payment of the bonus on a weekly rather than a quarterly basis. The Company, in its notice of November 13, 1942, also stated its in- tention to apply to the War Labor Board for additional pay increases for a few of its employees whose salaries had not been raised as much as others, but there is nothing in the context in which the notice of November 13 was sent which indicates that it was intended or could reasonably be expected to affect the employees' adherence to the Guild. Furthermore, it does not appear nor-does the Guild in its objections even allege that any of the apparently small number of employees affected by the Company's announced intention to apply to the War Labor Board for additional increases are within the News Office unit. While the notice of November 13, as the Guild points out, did not, mention the Guild, none of the Company's preceding notices as to its bonus system had mentioned any labor organization. , The Guild's objections based on the notice of November 13, 1942, and on the alleged interference, restraint, and coercion are hereby overruled. We do not agree with the Regional Director's finding that the letter of November 20, 1942, from the Company's president to its em- ployees affected the votes cast by employees in the News Office unit in the election held on November 23, 1942. The letter was issued after distribution of a circular by the Guild among the employees and in response to a charge ine the circular that the Company was not inter- ested in helping its employees increase their contribution to the nation's war effort.` The letter is not on its face coercive; on the con- trary, itspecifically reassured employees of their right to vote freely in the election, and it indicated a willingness on the part of the Com- pany to bargain and to enter into a contract with the Guild if it were, designated the bargaining representative of the employees. We are not persuaded that the circumstances in which the letter was sent made it coercive-in effect; indeed, although copies of the letter were, sent to employees at the Home Office and to employees of the Music 8 Cf Matter of Thompson Products , Inc and International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, C. I. 0., 43 N. L R B 1379 ; Matter of La Plant-Choate Manufacturing Co , Inc. and United Farm Equipment Workers Organizing Committee, Local 116, C. 1. 0., 15 N. L. R . B. 485. A Cf. Matter of The Yoder Company and United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local ##735 (C. I. 0.), 47 N. L R. B, No. 75. 11 PARAMOUNT PICTURES, INC. 741 Companies, it does not appear and it is not claimed that their votes in the election were thereby in any way affected. We find that the Guild's objection based on the letter of November 20, 1942, from the Company's president to its employees raises no substantial or material issue with respect to the conduct of the ballot. The objection is hereby overruled. We shall certify the collective bargaining representatives selected by, the employees in the elections held in Units Number 1, Number 4, and Number 5, as to which no objections have been filed. The results of the election among the employees in Unit Number 3, the office employees at the News Office, show that no collective bargaining repre- sentative has been selected by a majority of the employees in that unit. We shall, therefore dismiss the Guild's petition for investigation ,and certification of representatives, insofar as it relates to employees in Unit Number 3. CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National.L_bor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 9 and 10, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, IT IS HEREBY CERZIF ED that Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild, Local 109, UOPWA (C. I.0.), has been designated and selected by. a majority of- all, office, clerical, secretarial, and accounting employees, and salaried readers at the Home Office of Paramount Pictures, Inc., in New York City, excluding executives, officers, dis- trict managers, traveling auditors, lawyers, engineers, film examiners, film shippers, film handlers, and supervisory and confidential em- ployees, as their representative for the purposes of collective bar- gaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of he Act, Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild, Local 109, UOPWA.(C. I. 0.), is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment. IT IS HEBEBY-OERTIFIED that Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild, Local 109, UOPWA (C. I.0.), has been designated and selected by a majority of all office, clerical, secretarial, and accounting em- ployees at the office of Famous Music Corporation and Paramount Music Corporation in New York City, excluding executives, officers, district managers, traveling auditors, lawyers, engineers; film exam- iners, film shippers, and film handlers, as their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) 0 742 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD of the Act, Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild, Local 109, UOPWA (C. I. 0.), is the exclusive representative of all such em- ployees for the purposes of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment. I IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Screen Office & Professional Employ- ees Guild, Local 109, UOPWA (C. I. 0.), has been designated and selected by a majority of the porters, -watchmen, and matron em- ployed at the Home Office Paramount Pictures, Inc. in New York City, excluding the head porter, as their representative for the pur- poses of collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild, Local 109, UOPWA (C. I. 0.), is the exclusive representative of all such em- ployees for the purposes of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment. ORDER By virtue of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 9 and 10, of Na- tional Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certifi- cation of representatives of employees of Paramount Pictures, Inc., Famous Music Corporation and Paramount Music Corporation, New York City, filed by Screen Office &'Professional Employees Guild, Local 109, JUOPWA (C. I. 0.), insofar as it relates to employees in Unit Number 3 at the News Office, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.