Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc.

In the Matter Of COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC., OPERATING STATION KMOX, EMPLOYER and THE ST . Louis NEWSPAPER GUILD, LOCAL 47 OF THE AMERICAN NEWSPAPER GUILD, CIO, PETITIONER Case No. 14-R-1571.-Decided March 31,1947 Lewis , Rice, Tucker, Allen ct Chubb, by Messrs . R. Walston Chubb, and William F. Guffey, of St. Louis , Mo., for the Employer. Messrs. Morris J. Levin and Edward F. Woods , of St. Louis, Mo., for the Petitioner. Miss Nellie Booth, of St . Louis, Mo., for the Intervenor. llr. Philip Licari, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at St. Louis, Missouri, on October 4, 1946, before Charles K. Hackler, hearing offi- cer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., a New York corporation, owns and operates Radio Station KMOX in St. Louis, Missouri, which is one of a number of stations situated in various States of the United States and operated by the Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., as a part of a national chain or network. Radio Station KMOX is the only one involved in this proceeding. In the course of its business, this station rebroadcasts programs originating in radio stations in States other than the State of Missouri, and in return sends to such stations, for the purpose of rebroadcasting, programs originating in its St. Louis, Missouri, studio. Furthermore, Radio Station KMOX annually sells radio advertising valued in excess of $100,000, of which approximately 75 percent is sold to national advertising concerns lo- cated outside the State of Missouri. 73 N. L. R B., No. 7. 36 COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC. 37 We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act' 11. TUE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. American Federation of Radio Artists, herein called the Intervenor, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. III. TIIE QUFSTION CONCERNIN G REPRESENTATION The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until either the Petitioner or the Intervenor has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Petitioner seeks a unit of "news writers, or those who prepare news copy for broadcasting, whose regular assigned duties do not require them to broadcast or to appear before a microphone" at the Employer's Radio Station KNIOX in St. Louis, Missouri.2 The Em- ployer, on the other hand, contends that the employees sought by the Petitioner should be included in the bargaining unit represented by the Intervenor under an existing contract.3 In 1939, the Intervenor filed a petition with the Board seeking to represent in a separate unit "all staff continuity and news writers employed at Radio Station KMOX." On July 1, 1939, as a result of a card check, the Intervenor was certified by the Board as the sole collective bargaining representative of the employees in the unit defined 4 Thereafter, the Employer and the Intervenor negotiated 'See Matter of KMOX Broadcasting Station, et at., 10 N L R. B 479 2 Although the Intervenor appeared at the healing and participated therein, it does not oppose the unit sought by the Petitioner nor does it seek to represent any of the employees involved therein ' On December 12, 1938, the Intervenor was certified by the Board as the collective bargaining representative in the following unit : All staff actors, smgeis and announcers, and all free lance actors, singers and an- nouncers employed by the Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc, at Radio Station KMOX, including minors but excluding "hillbillies " See Matter of KMOX Broadcasting Station, et at., supra. ' See Case No. 14-R-123 38 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD a collective bargaining agreement on behalf of these employees, which agreement was to expire on December 31, 1940, but was later extended to March 1941. On December 4, 1940, during the life of this contract, the Intervenor relinquished jurisdiction over these employees to another American Federation of Labor affiliate, Radio Writers Guild, which after several months' negotiations failed to reach an agreement with the Employer, and no longer claims to represent the employees involved herein. Since March 1941, neither the news nor the con- tinuity writers have been represented by any labor organization. However, the Intervenor's contract with the Employer provides that if any of the news writers or continuity writers "appear before a microphone" he is required to become a member of the Intervenor and for such periods that he does so appear, the Intervenor is deemed to be his bargaining representative.5 The record further discloses that there is no labor organization, other than the Petitioner, which is presently seeking to represent the employees in question, and that they all desire to be represented by it.s The Employer has four news writers at its KMOX radio station. Although these employees are housed in the same room that some of the broadcasters and continuity writers ' occupy, they are under separate supervision from the other employees, have different wage scales, are engaged solely in the gathering and writing of news for the purpose of being broadcast by regular "radio broadcasters," and, with rare exception,8 there is no interchange between the news writers and other groups of employees at this station. It is clear from the history of collective bargaining that the news writers have since 1939 sought representation in a group separate from the other employees. It is also clear that functionally, the news writers form a cohesive and homogeneous group sufficiently clear-cut for purposes of collective bargaining. In view of the foregoing, and in the absence of a labor organization seeking to represent these em- ployees in a broader unit, we find that the group sought by the Peti- tioner forms a unit appropriate for collective bargaining purposes. With respect to the composition of the unit, the Employer contends that in the event the Board finds the unit sought by the Petitioner Section 3 of this contract provides that all employees in the unit defined therein , "shall be members of Afra in good standing or become members in good standing prior to entering upon such employment and shall remain such members throughout such employment." It has been the practice , undei the provision of the contract , to require membership in the Intervenor of any employee of the Employer who, on occasion broadcasts, or "appears before a microphone " 6 There are four employees in the alleged appropuate unit, all of whom have authorized the Petitioner to represent them 'There is no similaiity of duties between the ne\\s writers and the continuity writers. The continuity writers are solely engaged in writing commercial announcements and routine material. 8 Thomas Ottenad, a news writer, has, in rare instances, been permitted to "appear before a microphone" and broadcast some news COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC. 39 appropriate, that Thomas Ottenad, a news writer who, as indicated above, occasionally "appears before a microphone," should be wholly represented either by the Intervenor or the Petitioner. Since it is clear that Thomas Ottenad spends the overwhelming majority of his time as a news writer and is classified as such by the Employer, we are of the opinion that his duties and interests warrant his inclu- sion in the unit; we shall include him. However, we shall deem him excluded from the unit during such time as he is engaged in work outside the scope of the duties of a news writer.' We find that all news writers at the Employer's Radio Station KMOX in St. Louis, Missouri, excluding all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.1e DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., Operating Station KMOX, at St. Louis, Missouri, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Fourteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed dur- ing the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those em- ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to deter- mine whether or not they desire to be represented by The St. Louis Newspaper Guild, Local 47 of the American Newspaper Guild, CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining. CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. 'See Supplemental Decision in Matter of Carlisle d Jacquelin, 55 N L R B 678 ; Matter of Sterling Sugars, Inc., 65 N L R. B 1118, Matter of Hunt Foods, Inc., 68 N. L. R B. 800 "The names of the employees composing the appropriate unit are. Barbaia Callahan, John George, Courtney Hineman, and Thomas Ottenad.