Medion, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 20, 1972

200 N.L.R.B. 1013 (N.L.R.B. 1972)

MEDION, INCORPORATED 1013
Medion , Incorporated 1 and Association of Film
Craftsmen , Local 532 affiliated with Nabet,
AFL-CIO Case 20-RC-10777
December 20, 1972
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
By MEMBERS JENKINS, KENNEDY, AND
PENELLO
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officers Edward S
Kaplan and Donald E Twohey Following the
hearing and pursuant to Section 102 67 of the
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as
amended and by direction of the Regional Director
for Region 20, this case was transferred to the
National Labor Relations Board for decision There-
after, briefs were filed by the Petitioner, Employer,
and Intervenor 2
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officers'
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error The rulings are hereby
affirmed
Upon the entire record in this case including briefs
filed by the parties, the Board finds
1 The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein
2 The labor organizations involved claim to
represent certain employees of the Employer
3 A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of employees of the Employer
within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Section
2(6) and (7) of the Act 3
4 The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all
preproduction, production, and post-production
employees wherever employed, including, but not
limited to those in the following classifications
camera person, assistant camera, gaffer, electrician
i The Petition names Medion Incorporated as the Employer herein
However at the hearing the Petitioner moved to amend the name of the
Employer to Medion Incorporated and Fillmore Films Limited Partnership
a Joint Employer The Employer and Intervenor opposed this motion It is
hereby denied Medion Incorporated once acted as a general partner in
Fillmore Films Limited Partnership But this joint venture was formed for
the sole purpose of producing the film Fillmore which is finished and
there is no indication that this partnership will engage in more filmmaking
activity Medion alone appears as the employer of all other employees
herein
2 As International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving
grip, key grip, sound mixer, sound recordist, sound
assistant, editor, assistant editor, negative cutter, still
photographer, production assistant, script supervisor,
art director, carpenter, set dresser, property person,
wardrobe and make-up, home economist, special
effects person, wrangler, driver, and post-production
sound workers, excluding directors, assistant direc-
tors, writers, actors, official clerical employees,
guards and supervisors as defined in the Act The
Intervenor agrees with the appropriateness of this
unit The Employer is also in agreement except for
production assistants and those who work on
dramatic feature films, whom it would exclude
The Employer would exclude production assistants
on the ground that their duties are "administrative"
in nature However, the record shows that a
production assistant is hired about the same time as
other unit employees and his employment terminates
about the same time as theirs He is paid on an
hourly basis like other unit employees, and works the
same hours they do in close proximity to them His
duties consist of the performance of oddjobs around
the set Production assistants have moved into other
jobs in the unit Unless included, the production
assistant would be the only unrepresented classifica-
tion in the Employer's filming operations In these
circumstances and upon the entire record, we shall
include the production assistant
With respect to those who may work on dramatic
feature films, as distinguished from industrial,
educational, documentary, or "hybrid" films, it does
not appear that the assignment to such work, which
could involve the use of different size or a longer
running film, a larger crew, and greater costs,
destroys the overall mutuality of interest which the
record indicates exists among film production work-
ers We shall therefore not make the distinction in
this connection requested by the Employer
On the basis of the foregoing, we find that the
following employees of the employer constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the
Act
All preproduction, production, and post-prod-
uction employees, wherever employed by the
Employer, including camera person, assistant
camera, gaffer, electrician grip, key grip, sound
Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada AFL-CIO
has contractual relations with, and is currently recognized by the Fmployer
we find that the Intervenor has a colorable claim to representation sufficient
for the purposes of intervention Alpha Corporation Transportable Systems
Division 128 NLRB 309
3 Intervenor contends the Board should dismiss the petition as there is a
contract and/or recognition bar We do not agree The petition was filed
before the contract was executed and it does not affirmatively appear that
the Employer extended recognition to the Intervenor in good faith on the
basis of a previously demonstrated showing of majority Akron Telerama
Inc d/b/a Akron Cable Vision 191 NLRB No 7
200 NLRB No 145
1014 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
mixer, sound recordist , sound assistant , editor,
assistant editor, negative cutter, still photogra-
phers, production assistant , script supervisor, art
director , carpenters , set dresser , property person,
wardrobe and make-up , home economist , special
effects person, wrangler , driver, and post-prod-
uction sound workers, excluding directors , assist-
ant directors , writers, actors , office clerical em-
ployees, guards and supervisors as defined in the
Act
5 The parties are in disagreement with respect to
voting eligibility requirements Petitioner requests
voting eligibility for all who were employed for 2
days during the 18 months preceding the Direction
of Election The Employer proposes the normal
eligibility requirement of employment during the
payroll period prior to the election Alternatively, it
asks for 10 or more days employment on two or more
productions during the 3 months before the Direc-
tion The Intervenor favors the normal test for
eligibility or, in the alternative , it would confer
eligibility on anyone "employed a reasonable
amount of time within a definite limited time period
on substantially more than one of the projects
operated by the employer "
In the film industry, this record shows, crews are
hired for a particular production, sometimes only for
a day's work and then laid off without any promise
of reemployment When work is again available, the
employer recalls those who have proved satisfactory
in the past On the basis of this irregular pattern of
employment, it is our responsibility to devise an
eligibility formula which will protect and give full
effect to the voting rights of those employees who
have a reasonable expectancy of further employment
with the Employer
Upon consideration of the peculiar characteristics
of the Employer's industry and the employment
pattern disclosed by this record we believe that the
desired result can be achieved by a formula which
accords voting eligibility to all employees who were
employed by the Employer on at least two prod-
uctions for a minimum of 5 working days during the
year preceding the issuance of our Decision and
Direction of Election herein, and who were not
terminated for cause or quit voluntarily prior to the
completion of the last job for which they were
employed 4
[Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote
omitted from publication ]
4 Eligible for consideration as a production under this formula is which the Employer was the general partner who ran the production and
Fillmore which was produced by Fillmore Films Limited Partnership in the affairs of the Partnership