Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc.

In the Matter Of COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC., EMPLOYER and STATIONARY ENGINEERS, FIREMEN, MAINTENANCE & BUILDING SERVICE UNION, LOCAL 670, AFFILIATED WITH UNITED RETAIL, WHOLE- SALE & DEPARTMENT STORE EMPLOYEES OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER Case No. 2-RC-1244.Decided January 30, 1950 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before I. L. Broadwin, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Murdock]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The Petitioner, Stationary Engineers, Firemen, Maintenance & Building Service Union, Local 670, affiliated with United Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Employees of America, CIO, and the Intervenors, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local Unions 94 and 94A, AFL, hereinafter called Engineers, and the In- ternational Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, Local Union 56, AFL, hereinafter called the Brotherhood, are labor organizations claiming to represent certain employees 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. The appropriate unit : Petitioner is seeking a unit of building service engineers and ap- prentices (assistant engineers)' in the Company's New York offices, Studios, and theatres. The Intervenor Engineers, contends that the 1 Also referred to as watch or operating engineers or air-conditioning, ventilating, and beating engineers. 88 NLRB No. 78. 343 344 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD unit sought is inappropriate because it is proposed to include three assistant chief engineers and three apprentices employed in T. V. Studio 52. The Intervenor Brotherhood does not object to the unit sought by Petitioner. The Employer takes no position. The Employer has had contracts with both Intervenors for the past 12 years. The contract with the Engineers covered the same unit as that sought by Petitioner. The contract with the Brotherhood covered the firemen and oilers. Apprentices or assistant engineers Although the unit sought herein is the same as has been represented by the Intervenor Engineers, the latter is now objecting to the inclusion of three apprentices employed in T. V. Studio 52, who have always been represented by the Engineers union. The contention is that there is no licensed engineer employed in this building and that the work of the apprentices is similar to that of the firemen and oilers employed in other buildings. The Engineers therefore claim these apprentices more properly belong to the Brotherhood. The latter, however, has voiced no objection to the unit sought by Petitioner. The evidence shows that no licensed engineer is employed in this studio because it contains no mechanical equipment requiring the service of such engineer. While it appears that both apprentices and firemen work with heating and cooling equipment and their work is similar in several respects, they handle different types of equipment and work under different conditions. The apprentices deal mainly with air-conditioning and ventilating equipment, the firemen with boilers and related equipment. The latter stoke furnaces, the appren- tices do not. The apprentices handle equipment using ice, the firemen handle chilled water. The apprentices may be moved from job to job, while the firemen are not. The apprentices receive higher wages and are practically never interchanged with firemen. . In view of the past bargaining history and the fact that no other union is seeking to represent them, we shall include the apprentices in T. V. Studio 52 in the proposed unit. Assistant chief engineers The Petitioner would include three assistant chief engineers, Bal- ,dini, Lowell, and Byrne, whom the Intervenor Engineers contends are supervisors. The Employer, while not taking a positive position, expressed the opinion that these men should be in the same unit as the other operating engineers. Baldini and Lowell are carried on. the Company's books as super- visors and their rate of pay is substantially higher than that of the remaining men in the department. They are responsible directly to COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC. 345 the chief engineer and act in his stead in his absence. They stand no watches as do the remaining engineers and are not paid for overtime as are the other men in the unit sought. At least 50 percent of their time is spent in the supervision and responsible direction of the other employees in their department. On the basis of these facts we find that Baldini and Lowell are supervisors within the meaning of the Act and they shall be excluded from the unit hereinafter found appro- priate.' Byrne is also classified as a supervisor on the Company's books and receives the same rate of pay as Baldini and Lowell. He is not, how- ever, exercising any of the functions described above but is serving as a regular engineer. The Company states that the time of his return to his former status is indeterminate. As Byrne is therefore serving in the status of a rank-and-file employee and the resumption of his supervisory duties will not take place, if at all, until some undetermined time in the future, we shall include him within the unit hereinafter found. We find that all engineers and apprentices in the building service classification including the apprentices in T. V. Studio 52 and engineer Bryne but excluding the two assistant chief engineers, office clericals, professional employees, guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defin°ed in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose Qf collective bargaining. within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4,'above, who were employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or re- instated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, 2 Bond Stores, Inc., 84 NLRB 667. 346 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD by Stationary Engineers, Firemen, Maintenance & Building Service Union, Local 670, affiliated with United Retail, Wholesale & Depart- ment Store Employees of America, CIO, or International Union of Operating Engineers, Local Unions 94 and 94A, or International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, Local 56, AFL, or by none.