Minnesota Broadcasting Co. Operating WTCN

In the Matter of MINNESOTA BROADCASTING COMPANY OPERATING WTCN and NEWSPAPER GUILD OF THE TWIN CITIES, MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL, LOCAL No. 2 OF THE AMERICAN NEWSPAPER GUILD Case No. R-660.-Decided June 13, 1938 Radio Broadcasting Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy concerning representation of employees: controversy concerning appropriate unit-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: all employees, excluding, executives, production manager, sales manager, secretary to general manager, and all other supervisory employees, engineers, musicians, and salesmen ; occu- pational differences ; desires of employees-Representatives: proof of choice : comparison of list of employees and union membership , cards-Certiflcation of Representatives: upon proof of majority representation. Mr. Thurlow Smoot, for the Board. Oppenheimer, Dickson, Hodgson, Brown c Donnelly, of St. Paul, Minn. by Mr. E. B. Baer, for the Company. Mr. Ralph L. Helstein, of Minneapolis, Minn. for the Guild. Mr. Oscar Coover, of Minneapolis, Minn., for Local 292. Mr. Roman Beck, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES STATEMENT OF THE CASE On December 15, 1937, Newspaper Guild of the Twin Cities, Min- neapolis and St. Paul, Local No. 2, of the American Newspaper Guild, herein called the Guild, filed with the Regional Director for the Eighteenth Region (Minneapolis, Minnesota) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of Minnesota Broadcasting Company, Minne- apolis, Minnesota, herein called the Company, and requesting an in- vestigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. 867 868 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BO_ RD Upon charges duly filed by the Guild, the National Labor Rela- tions Board, herein called the Board, by the said Regional Director, issued its complaint, dated January 31, 1938, against the Company, alleging that the Company had engaged in and was engaging in un- fair labor practices affecting commerce within the meaning of Section 8 (1) and (3) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. In respect to the unfair labor practices, the complaint alleged, in substance, that the Company had terminated the employment of Stephen Wells, its publicity director, and had refused to reinstate him because he joined and assisted the Guild and engaged with other of the Com- pany's employees in concerted activities for collective bargaining. On January 31, 1938, the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, and pursuant to Article III, Section 10 (c) (2), of the aforesaid Rules and Regulations, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice; and further ordered that, for the purposes of hearing, the representation and complaint cases be consolidated. On February 5, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear- ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, and upon the Guild. On March 8, 1938, the Board ordered that the representa- tion and the complaint cases be severed and continued as separate proceedings.' % Pursuant to the notice of hearing and a notice of postponement duly served upon the parties, a hearing was held on March 17 and 18, 1938, at Minneapolis, Minnesota, before William P. Webb, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, thQ Company, and the Guild were represented by counsel and partici- pated in the hearing. At the hearing International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 292, herein called Local 292, a labor or- ganization claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation, moved for leave to intervene as a party to the proceed- ing, and said motion was granted by the Trial Examiner. Local 292 was represented and participated in the hearing. Full oppor- tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. "Prior to the order of severance , wells was reinstated by the Company with back pay._ DECISIONS AND ORDERS 869 Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY The Company operates a commercial radio broadcasting station known as WTCN in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has a business office in St. Paul, Minnesota. One-half of its issued capital stock is owned by the Minneapolis Tribune, a newspaper published in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the other half by Northwest Publi- cations, Inc., which publishes the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dis- patch. WTCN is operated under a license from the Federal Com- munications Commission, and is an affiliate of the National Broad- casting Company carrying all of its basic "Blue" network programs. During 1937 the Company received from the National Broadcasting Company about $5,000 for its share of commercially sponsored time. The material broadcast by WTCN has been detected by listeners in all States within a radius of 1,600 miles of Minneapolis, Min- nesota. Station WTCN, in the course and conduct of the Company's business is now, and has been continuously receiving and trans- mitting intelligence, from and to States and territories of the United States. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Newspaper Guild of the Twin Cities Minneapolis and St. Paul, Local 2, of the American Newspaper Guild, is a labor organization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization, admitting to its membership all production and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding engineers, salesmen, musicians, and executives and supervisory employees. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 292, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits to its membership engineers and salesmen of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION Prior to November 1937, no effort had been made by the Guild to organize the employees of the Company. In November of 1937, the Guild received authority from its International Executive Board to accept for membership all employees of the Company. About December 1, 1937, the Guild notified the Company that it represented a majority of its employees, excluding executive, supervisory per- 870 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD sonnel, salesmen , musicians, and engineers , and requested that the Company recognize and bargain with the Guild as the sole repre- sentative of such employees. On December 6, 1937, the Company refused that request upon the ground that its salesmen and certain of its supervisory employees should also be included in the bar- gaining unit. We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of employees of the Company. IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON CODIDIERCE We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company described in Section I above, has a close, intimate , and substantial relation to communication and commerce among the several States, and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing com- merce and communication among the several States. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Guild contends that the unit appropriate for collective bar- gaining consists of all employees of the Company except- executives, supervisory personnel , salesmen, musicians, and engineers. Local 292 agrees that the unit suggested by the Guild is appropriate. The Company asserts, however, that the production manager, the sales manager, the secretary to the general manager, and the salesmen should be included in the unit. The production manager recommends the hiring and discharge of his departmental staff. The sales manager supervises the work of the salesmen. The secretary to the general manager does his correspond- ence and that of the sales manager, and has an office immediately adjoining their respective offices. The uncontradicted testimony is that the salesmen do not wish to become members of any union. They are on a straight commission basis and do not observe definite hours of work. The salesmen spend substantially all of their time away from the offices of the Company. Under the circumstances set forth and in view of the desires of both labor organizations, we conclude that the salesmen , the production manager, the sales manager , and the secretary to the general manager, should be excluded from the bar- gaining unit. We find that all the employees of the Company , excluding execu- tives, the production manager, the sales manager , the secretary to the general manager, and all other supervisory employees , the engi- DECISIONS AND ORDERS 871 neers, musicians, and salesmen, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self- organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES A list of employees of the Company, as of February 23, •1938, was introduced in evidence showing 17 employees in the unit which we, have found appropriate. The Guild had its membership cards and other records available for examination at the hearing. A com- parison made at the hearing of the list of company employees and membership cards confirmed the Guild representative's testimony that 10 of the said 17 employees are its members. Local 292 made no claim to represent any employee within the unit we have found appropriate. Its representative thus stated its posi- tion at the hearing : "I would like to say that Local 292 has acceded to the News Guild's right to come into WTCN and take the produc- tion employees of WTCN because we do not want jurisdictional fights between unions ..." We find that the Guild has been designated and selected by a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their represent- ative for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore, the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining, and we will so certify. Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of Minnesota Broadcasting Corporation, at Station WTCN, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and in the business- office of the Company in St. Paul, Minnesota, within the meaning of Sec- tion 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. All the employees of the Company, excluding executives, the production manager, the sales manager, the secretary to the general manager and all other supervisory employees, the engineers, musi- cians, and salesmen, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act. 3. Newspaper Guild of the Twin Cities Minneapolis and St. Paul, Local 2, of the American Newspaper Guild, is the exclusive repre- 10G791-38-vol vii-56 872 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD sentative of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of col- lective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the National Labor Relations Act. CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela- tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Newspaper Guild of the Twin Cities Minneapolis and St. Paul , Local 2, of the American Newspaper Guild, has been designated and selected by a majority of the em- ployees of Minnesota Broadcasting Corporation at its Station WTCN in the Wesley Temple Building , Minneapolis , Minnesota, and its business office in the Minnesota Building, St . Paul, Minnesota, ex- cluding executives, the production manager, the sales manager, the secretary to the general manager, and all other supervisory em- ployees, the engineers , the musicians and the salesmen , as their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining and that, pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the Act, Newspaper Guild of the Twin Cities Minneapolis and St. Paul ,. Local 2, of the American Newspaper Guild, is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment. 1