KOWB Radio

530 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Curt Gowdy Broadcasting, Inc. d/b/a KOWB Radio issuance date of this Decision on Review. [Excelsior and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Denver Local, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 27-RC-5078 January 22, 1976 DECISION ON REVIEW BY CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS FANNING AND PENELLO On August_7, 1975, the Regional Director for Re- gion 27 issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceeding, the relevant por- tions of which are attached as an appendix, in which he found, inter alia, that the bookkeeper was not a confidential employee, and that the news director was not a supervisor within the meaning of the Act. He also denied the Employer's motion to dismiss the petition because of alleged supervisory taint in secur- ing the showing of interest. Thereafter, the Employer filed a request for review of the Regional Director's decision on the ground that the Regional Director in making his finding with respect to supervisory status of the news director departed from officially reported precedent, and thereby erroneously denied the Employer's motion to dismiss the petition herein. The Employer also contends the Regional Director erred in not finding that the secretary to the general manager-bookkeeper is a confidential employee. By telegraphic order dated October 14, 1975, the Board granted the request for review with respect to the supervisory status of the news director and relat- ed issues. It also reserved ruling as to the eligibility of the secretary to the general manager-bookkeeper. The election was stayed pending decision on review. The request for review was denied in all other re- spects. No briefs on review were filed by the parties herein. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au- thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. Having considered the entire record in this pro- ceeding with respect to the issues under review, the Board is satisfied that the record supports the Re- gional Director's findings and conclusions.' There- fore, the Regional Director's Decision and Direction of Election is hereby affirmed. Accordingly, we hereby remand the case to the Re- gional Director for the purpose of conducting an election pursuant to the Decision and Direction of Election, except that the payroll period for determin- ing eligibility shall be that immediately preceding the footnote omitted from publication]. i Having carefully examined the record in the instant case , we conclude that the news director's supervisory authority, if any, is limited to "string- ers" and "interns." The "stringers" and "interns" work essentially without compensation in order to obtain experience in a newscasting field, and we find that they are not employees of the Employer within the meaning of the Act Accordingly, the news director does not attain supervisory status by virtue of any authority he may exercise over them We find it unnecessary to reach or pass upon the applicability of Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 163 NLRB 723, 727 (1967), and Adelphi University, 195 NLRB 639 (1975), cases relied on, in part , by the Regional Director. Furthermore, as we have found the news director, Swain, is not a supervisor, the Regional Director's denial of the Employer's motion to dismiss was warranted The Regional Director's inclusion of the secretary to the general manag- er-bookkeeper is affirmed as it does not appear that she is performing as a confidential employee at this time APPENDIX With respect to the positions of traffic clerk and bookkeeper, it is the position of the Employer that they do not share a community of interest with other employees properly includable within the unit. In support of its position, the Employer points out that these employees work different hours and are paid less than announcers. In addition, the Employer points to the limited contact with announcers and substantially fewer employment prerequisites than announcers. The traffic clerk is responsible for programming that material which is to go over the air. In addition, she routinely assists the news director in the gather- ing of local news by calling weather stations, funeral homes, etc., has done some commercials and is regu- larly heard over the air by virtue of a tape she has recorded announcing disc jockeys. The bookkeeper testified that she spent I week per month at her bookkeeping functions and the remain- der of the time assisting the traffic clerk with her duties in preparing logs and gathering local news. Having found an overall unit appropriate in the instant case, I hereby find that the traffic clerk and bookkeeper are appropriately within the unit. The Employer further asserted that the bookkeep- er must be excluded on the grounds that she is a confidential employee. The record reflects that she has access to the Employer's personnel and financial records. Among her duties as bookkeeper is to com- pile this data and forward it to the Employer's head- quarters in Massachusetts. There is insufficient evi- dence, however, to show that she is directly involved in labor relations for the Employer. An Employee's access to personnel records and financial records is insufficient to qualify an employee as confidential. RCA Communications, Inc., 154 NLRB 34, 37 (1965); Dinkier-St. Charles Hotel, Inc., 134 NLRB 1302 222 NLRB No. 83 KOWB RADIO (19,59). Further, employees who may at some future time function as confidential employees but who are not doing so at the time the determination is made do not belong to this excluded category. American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Company, Pacific Or- der Handling Division, 119 NLRB 1715 (1958). Thus, I find the bookkeeper is .not a confidential employee within the meaning of the Act and find that she is properly includable in -the unit. - With respect to the news director, it is the conten- tion of the Employer that he is a supervisor within the meaning of the Act and thus should be excluded. The evidence reveals that he is responsible for select- ing, editing, and presenting news. He has main au- thority over the gathering and broadcasting of local news and takes material from- the Associated Press wireservice and puts it on the air. There is, however, insufficient evidence that he exercises supervisory authority over a regular employee of the Employer. That is, there is evidence to show that he has sporad- ically directed the activities of "stringers" or "in- terns." An intern is a student who works with a sta- 531 tion for the purposes of gaining experience. The stu- dent obtains credit at his school for the, work but receives little or no compensation. A stringer simi- larly works for the experience and receives either no or only token compensation. A stringer is not neces- sarily a student. However, the evidence shows that this direction has been of a routine and intermittent nature. Further, the direction has been of persons not regularly employed by the Employer. The Board has addressed the issue of supervision over temporary workers who are wholly'outside the scope of the unit sought and concluded that employees who spend 50% or more of their working time performing non- supervisory duties should not be denied the advan- tages of collective bargaining. Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 163 NLRB 723 (1967). See also Adelphi University 195 NLRB 639 (1972). Accordingly, I shall include the news director in the unit. Having found the news director not to be a super- visor within the meaning of the Act, I deny the Employer's motion that the petition be dismissed due to supervisory taint.