Southern Radio and Television Equipment Co.

216 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD APPENDIX NOTICE TO ALL EMPLOYEES Pursuant to the recommendations of a Trial Examiner of the National Labor Relations Board , and in order to effectuate the policies of the National Labor Relations Act, we hereby notify our employees that: WE WILL bargain collectively upon request with Amalgamated Plant Guards, Local 504, affiliated with International Union, United Plant Guard Workers of America, as the exclusive representative of all employees in the bargaining unit described below with respect to wages, rates of pay , hours of employment or other conditions of employment and, if an understanding is reached, embody such understanding in a signed agreement. The bargaining unit is: All plant guards and other guards as defined in the Act, employed at our Allen- town, Pennsylvania , plant but excluding professional employees and supervisors as defined in the Act. WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner interfere with, restrain, br coerce our employees in the exercise of their right to self-organization, to form labor organiza- tions, to join or assist the above- named union, or any other labor organization, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing , and to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection All our employees are free to become or remain members of this union or any other labor organization. MACK MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, Employer. Dated... .. . (Representative) (Title) The notice must remain posted for 60 days from the date hereof, and must not be altered, defaced, or covered by any other material SOUTHERN RADIO AND TELEVISION EQUIPMENT COMPANY, TELEVISION STATION WTVJ and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL NO. 349, AFL, Petitioner . Case No . 10-RC-2398 . November 25, 1953 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 S. Patton, hearing officer. The hearing officer ' s rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby af- firmed. 1 i The Intervenor, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada , AFL, contends that the hearing officer erred in granting the Employer's motion to revoke a subpena requiring the Employer to produce certain records. We find no merit in this contention . We agree with the hearing officer that the records sought relate to matters fully covered by the record and would be merely cumulative in nature. 107 NLRB No. 67. SOUTHERN RADIO AND TELEVISION EQUIPMENT COMPANY 217 Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean- ing of the Act. 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the mean- ing of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks a single unit of employees in both the production and engineering departments. The Employer agrees that this is the appropriate unit. The Intervenor seeks to represent the foregoing employees in separate departmental units. Both the Petitioner and the Intervenor agree that the employees in the program-planning unit, a subdivision of the production department, should be excluded from any unit found appropriate, as not having any community of interest with the rest of the employees, while the Employer contends they should be included. The Petitioner and Employer would exclude the film cameramen and news editors, while the Intervenor takes no position. The Employer is engaged in producing and transmitting television programs at its station in Miami, Florida. There is no history of collective bargaining. Apart from the program-planning unit, the primary duties of the production-department employees are to operate tele- vision cameras and microphone booms, handle cables, push dollies, move scenery and props, arrange sets, and operate lights and associated equipment. They are separately super- vised. The employees in the engineering department are, in the main, skilled technicians who operate the electronic equipment, and usually work in the control booth, master control room, or transmitter site. More than half the employees in the engineering department have FCC licenses. The engineering department employees are also separately supervised. The production department and engineering department employees work in close conjunction, coordinating the various phases in the production and transmission of a television pro- gram. On the other hand, the duties of the employees in each department are unique, and there is little transfer of employ- ees from one department to the other. Under such circumstances, the Board has held that either a single, two-departmental unit or separate units may be appropriate.2 However, as the Intervenor has failed to make the necessary 30-percent showing of interest among the employees in either of the departments, we shall not direct elections in separate units. We shall, nevertheless, place the Intervenor' s name on the ballot, as it has made some showing of interest among the employees sought. 2 Empire Coil No. Inc. , 106 NLRB 1069; KTTV, Inc., 97 NLRB 1477. 2 18 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The program planning unit: 3 There are approximately eight employees in the program planning unit. Their primary duties are to plan the show under consideration, writing the scripts and determining the material , such as scenery tobe used in it. They also meet the sponsors and prepare program logs which are used by operating personnel and also distributed for publica- tion to newspapers. Program-planning employees do not usually handle or operate any of the physical equipment or material used in putting on the television shows. In the course of their duties they are, of necessity, in close contact with the other employees in the production department as well as the engineering department. The Board has previously determined that all employees, other than technicians, who contribute to the presentation of, but do not appear on, television programs form an identifiable, cohesive unit and may constitute an appropriate bargaining unit.4 Accordingly, we find that the program planning employees may be included with the other production department employees in the single two-depart- mental unit found appropriate here. Film cameramen and news editors: The film cameramen shoot motion picture film. This work is done away from the television station. They then bring the film to the news editors who develop it, and thereafter edit the pictures. The head- quarters of the film cameramen and news editors is located at another firm owned by the Employer, Reeler Film Corpora- tion. The record indicates that their primary duties are for the latter company, although they are paid by the Employer. Under these circumstances, the film cameramen and news editors do not appear to have a sufficient community of interest with any of the employees sought and we shall therefore exclude them from the unit. There remains for determination the disposition of certain other personnel. The Intervenor contends that Lucas, assistant production manager, and Hutcheson, engineering department assistant supervisor, are supervisors within the meaning of the Act and should be excluded. The Employer denies that they are supervisors, while the Petitioner takes no position. The record shows that Lucas' principal duty is to interview talent for programs, and that he has the authority effectively to recommend the hiring of applicants or to reject them. On these facts, we find that Lucas is a supervisor and shall exclude him. Hutcheson is assistant to Kline, engineering department supervisor. In that capacity, he issues orders and directions to employees in the engineering department and has authority to reprimand them as well as to make effective recommendations with respect to disciplining them. We find that Hutcheson is also a supervisor and shall exclude him. 3 This unit is also called traffic and copy 4 WCAU, Inc., 93 NLRB 1003 ASSOCIATED BUSINESS SERVICE 219 The Intervenor would exclude Norman Bean as a professional employee. The Employer would include him, while the Peti- tioner takes no position. Bean's primary function is develop- ing new equipment and improving old, and he does considerable research. He is required to exercise a high degree of inde- pendent judgment and discretion in this specialized field. Bean is a college graduate and has an engineering degree. In view of the foregoing, we find that he is a professional employee and shall exclude him. We find that the following employees of the Employer con- stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar- gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All production-department 5 and engineering-department em- ployees at the Employer's television station at Miami, Florida, including program-planning employees, but excluding company officers, receptionist, administrative officer, clerical, per- sonnel department and sales department employees, an- nouncers, talent, film cameramen and news editors, profes- sional employees, and all supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 5 The Intervenor would exclude as supervisors program directors, Bruton, Johns, and Zinn. As the record is inconclusive regarding their duties and authority, we shall permit them to vote subject to challenge. The record indicates that all production-department employees take turns as program directors. DOROTHY E. FITZPATRICK d/b/a ASSOCIATED BUSINESS S E R V I C E ' and LOCAL 16, AMALGAMATED LITHO- GRAPHERS OF AMERICA, CIO, Petitioner . Case No. 9-RC- 2052 . November 25, 1953 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 Harold M. Kennedy, hearing 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 mean- ing of the Act. 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain employees of the Employer. 2 I The Employer's name appears as corrected at the hearing. 2 Louisville Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union No. 28, International Printing Press- men and Assistants Union of North America, AFL, submitted an adequate showing of interest prior to the date of the hearing, but did not appear at the hearing when informed that it was out of compliance with Section 9 (f) and (g) of the Act. Having effected compliance subsequent to the hearing, it filed a motion with the Board to intervene in the instant proceeding and have its name placed on the ballot in the election directed herein. We hereby grant the motion. Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., 87 NLRB 597. 107 NLRB No. 65.