Raphael G. Wolff Studios

508 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD RAPHAEL G. WOLFF STUDIOS and INTERNATIONAL ALLI- ANCE OF THEATRICAL STAGE EMPLOYEES AND MOVING PICTURE MACHINE OPERATORS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA AND ITS LOCAL 839, MOTION PICTURE SCREEN CARTOONISTS, AFL, Petitioner. Case No. 21-RC-2947. April 29, 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 Norman H. Greer, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. I Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Mur- dock and Peterson]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning 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 meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The parties agree that the following employees constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining: All animation-department employees at the Employer's Hollywood, California, studios, excluding cameramen, pro- jectionists, laboratory technicians, film editors, filmcutters, soundmen, actors, musicians, clerical employees, mainte- nance men, and supervisors as defined in the Act. 5. The Intervenor contends that temporary employees in the animation department, including Russell Dyson, are ineligi- ble to vote in the election. The Petitioner contends that the temporary employees should be permitted to vote. The Em- ployer takes no position. I The Screen Cartoonists Guild, which was permitted to intervene on the basis of its con- tractual interest, moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that temporary employees are not eligible to vote and that, therefore, the Petitioner has not made a sufficient showing of interest in the unit. As discussed below, we find that temporary employees are eligible to vote. Moreover, it is well settled that the sufficiency of the Petitioner 's showing of interest is a matter for administrative determination and is not litigable. In any event, we are ad- ministratively satisfied that the Petitioner has made a sufficient showing of interest. Ac- cordingly. we shall deny the Intervenor's motion. 104 NLRB No. 77. RAPHAEL G. WOLFF STUDIOS 509 The Employer employs both permanent and temporary em- ployees in the animation department. At the time of the hearing there were 6 permanent and 9 temporary employees. The temporary employees work under the same supervision and perform the same work as the permanent employees. The length of employment of temporary employees depends upon the availability of work.' Because of the nature of the industry, their employment is of varying duration. The record indicates that permanent employees themselves are not given assurance of more than 6 months' employment a year. The record also indicates that the Employer has an agreement to produce 12 three-dimensional pictures in the coming year which will make work available to temporary employees. In view of the foregoing, and particularly the character of the industry, we find that the temporary employees involved herein have a sufficient interest in the terms and conditions of employment as to entitle them to vote in the election directed herein. One employee, Blundell, hired as a scene planner, has been assigned part-time duties as a cameraman. He estimated that during the 6 weeks preceding the hearing in this case he spent slightly over half of his time performing the duties of a cameraman. As Blundell works a substantial portion of his time as a scene planner, which is a classification falling within the unit, we find that he is eligible to vote in the elec- tion.' After the hearing the parties submitted to the Board addi- tional information that the Employer had laid off all the temporary and permanent employees because of lack of work. In these circumstances, we shall direct that an election be held among the employees in the appropriate unit who are employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date of the issuance of the notice of election at a time when the Regional Director determines that the Employer has re- sumed operations with a representative number of employees. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 2 The Employer's contract with the intervenor provides that "employment will be con- sidered temporary for a maximum term of 12 months of continuous employment." This con- tract is not urged as a bar to this proceeding. sOcala Star Banner, 97 NLRB 348. 4As an alternative to its contention that temporary employees should not be permitted to vote, the intervenor suggests that eligibility be determined by the payroll period ending prior to January 1953. We find that the use of the eligibility period prescribed above will best effectuate the purposes of the Act.