Paramount Pictures, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 23, 1938

7 N.L.R.B. 1106 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of PARAMOUNT PICTURES, INC. and NEWSPAPER GUILD
or NEW YORK
Case No. R-725.-Decided June 23, 1938
Motion Picture Production Industry-Investigation of Representatives: con-
troversy concerning representation of employees : controversy concerning appro-
priate unit ; rival organizations ; employer 's refusal to bargain with union
because of controversy concerning unit-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bar-
gaining: employees in th editorial and traffic departments of the News Divi-
sion, excluding executives and employees who are members of or eligible to
membership in other union , and including the secretaries to the executives in
charge of the laboratory and technical departments of the News Division;
desires of employees-Representatives : proof of choice : comparison of list of
employees with union membership application cards and petition-Certification
of Representatives : upon proof of majority representation.
Mr. Jacob Blum, for the Board.
Mr. Austin C.1 cough and Mr. G. A. Barry, of New York City,
for the Company.
Mr. Abraham J. Isserman, of New York City, for the Guild.
Miss Geneva M. Marsh, of New York City, for the Federation.
Mr. Raymond J. Compton, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On February 9, 1938, Newspaper Guild of New York, herein
called the Guild, filed with the Regional Director for the Second
Region (New York City) a petition alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Paramount Pictures, Inc., New York City, herein called the Com-
pany, and requesting an investigation and certification of representa-
tives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On February 28, 1938, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pur-
suant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1,
as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
1106
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1107
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice.
On April 18, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and upon the
Guild. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on April 27, 1938,
at New York City, before William Seagle, the Trial Examiner duly
designated by the Board. At the opening of the hearing, Ameri-
can Federation of Bookkeepers, Stenographers and Accountants,
Federal Local Union No. 20940, herein called the Federation, made an
oral request to intervene. This request was granted subject to the
filing of a written petition to intervene, which the Federation later
submitted during the course of the hearing. On April 27, 1938, the
Trial Examiner also granted a motion by the Guild to amend its
petition by altering to some extent the description of the bargaining
unit claimed by the Guild to be appropriate. The Board, the Com-
pany, and the Guild were represented by counsel; the Federation was
represented by Geneva M. Marsh; and all participated in the hearing.
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine wit-
nesses, 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 other motions and objections to the admis-
sion of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial
Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. All
the rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. TILE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company is a New York corporation originally organized
under the name of Famous-Players-Laskey Corporation on July 19,
1916, changing to its present name on June 5, 1936. The Company is
engaged in the business of making, selling, and distributing motion
pictures and maintains its principal place of business in the Para-
mount Building, New York City. Two other buildings in New York
City are occupied by the Company in the conduct of its business: The
Paramount Exchange, on 44th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues,
and the Paramount News Building, at 544 West 43rd Street, which
houses the Paramount News Division involved in this proceeding.
The Paramount News Division formerly existed as a separate cor-
poration under the name of Paramount News, Inc., but on April 29,
1937, merged with Paramount Pictures, Inc.
The Company owns or controls approximately 400 subsidiaries,
most of which are engaged in operating theaters throughout the
0
1108 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
United States. These subsidiaries operate some 800 theaters. The
Paramount News Dlvision'makes not only all the news reels issued by
the Company in the United States, but also various types of
',shorts," consisting of travel, novelty, and cartoon pictures. Both
the news reels and the "shorts" are made in the Paramount News
Building. The News Division of the Company has 163 employees
with an annual pay roll of about $500,000. Approximately 1,000,000
feet of news reel and 400,000 feet of "shorts" are produced by the
Company in the Paramount News Building every week. These films
are sent to every State in the United States and to foreign countries.
Over 50 per cent of the materials used in the production of these
pictures are obtained outside the State of New York.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Newspaper Guild, of New York is a labor organization affiliated
with the American Newspaper Guild, admitting to its membership
"any person gainfully employed in and devoting the major part
of his time to an-editorial, business, circulation, promotion, or
advertising department or allied groups of employees of a news
publication." 1 It is affiliated with the Committee for Industrial
Organization.
American Federation of Bookkeepers, Stenographers and Ac-
countants, Federal Local No. 20940, is a labor organization affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to its member-
ship all the clerical and office workers of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Guild claims to represent a majority of the employees of the
Company in the editorial, traffic, and accounting departments of the
News Division, excluding executives and employees who are mem-
bers of or eligible to membership in certain locals of an existing
union in that Division, and including the secretaries to the execu-
tives in charge of the laboratory and technical departments. The
Guild contends that the employees of the Company eligible to its
membership constitute an appropriate bargaining unit. The Com-
pany has refused to bargain with the Guild, denying that the unit
claimed by the Guild is an appropriate one, and also requesting
"suitable proof of representation."
We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of
employees of the Company.
1 The quoted words are taken from the Constitution of the American Newspaper Guild.
The record shows that the same classification of employees are eligible to membership in
the Newspaper Guild of New York
DECISIONS AND OIIDEIiS 1109,
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
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 trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Guild contends that the employees of the Company in the
editorial, traffic, and accounting departments of the News Division,
excluding executives and employees who are members of or eligible
to membership in Locals 52, 644, and 702 of the International Alliance
of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Oper-
ators of the United States and Canada, hereinafter called the
I. A. T. S. E., and including the secretaries to the executives in charge,
of the laboratory and technical departments of the News Division,,
constitute an appropriate bargaining unit. The Guild bases its con-
tention upon the fact that it has organized the employees of the News
Division on an industrial basis,. excluding all those who are mem-
bers of or eligible to membership in a union which already exists
and has membership in the News Division. The I. A. T. S. E., af-
filiated with the American Federation of Labor, has been recognized
by the Company as the bargaining representative for all those em-
ployees excluded from the unit which the Guild claims to be-
appropriate.
While not objecting to the inclusion of the editorial employees
within the unit claimed by the Guild, the Company contended that
such unit should not include secretarial, stenographic, and clerical
employees. The Federation also asserted that a unit composed of
the clerical and office workers in all three divisions of the Company
was an appropriate bargaining unit and alleged that the Feder-
ation had a substantial membership among the employees of the
other two divisions of the Company. Both the Company and the
Federation contend that those employees of the News Division eli-
gible to membership in the Federation should be excluded from the
unit claimed by the Guild, inasmuch as they will be organized by
the Federation when it completes its intended organization in that
Division.
The Federation admittedly has made no attempt to organize the
employees of the News Division and it offered no proof of either a
majority or a substantial membership among the office and clerical
1110 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees in the ather two divisions of the Company in which it
has organized. The mere fact that the Federation intends at some
future time to organize the employees of the News Division does not
justify their exclusion from the bargaining unit claimed to be appro-
priate by the Guild. Furthermore, the Federation introduced no
evidence showing that the employees of the News Division eligible
to the Federation had expressed any desire to become members of
or to be represented by the Federation. On the other hand, all
those employees who are included within the unit which the Guild
claims to be appropriate are ineligible to any union existing and
having membership in the News Division at the time of the hearing..
In addition, the Guild introduced evidence showing that a substantial
majority of such employees are members of the Guild and have
expressed a desire that it represent them. Under these circum-
stances, we see no reason for deviating from the unit claimed to be
appropriate by the Guild.
The contention was also made by the Company that since certain
employees of the News Division which the Guild includes within its
requested unit work on both "shorts" and news reels they should be
excluded. It was shown at the hearing, however, that such em-
ployees devote the major part of their time to news reels and properly
come within the rules of eligibility adopted by the Guild. We will
not exclude these employees from the unit which we find to be
appropriate.
Since the six accountants employed in the News Division were
loaned to it by the home office, and the News Division had no con-
trol over them, either as to tenure of office or terms and conditions of
employment, it was stipulated by the Guild that they should be ex-
cluded from the unit. Accordingly, the six accountants will be
excluded from the unit which we find to be appropriate.
We find that all employees of the Company in the editorial and
traffic departments of the News Division, excluding executives and
employees who are members of or eligible to membership in Locals
52, 644, and 702 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage
Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United
States and Canada, and including the secretaries to the executives
in charge of the laboratory and technical departments of the News
Division, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining and that said unit will insure to employees of the Com-
pany the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to col-
lective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The unit which we have found to be appropriate includes 23 em-
ployees listed on the "schedule of employees" introduced in evidence
DECISIONS AND ORDERS
by the Company. The Guild offered in evidence 20 membership
application cards, together with a petition bearing the signatures
of 19 Guild members and expressing the desire that the Guild be
their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining. As
evidenced by both the petition and the application cards, the Guild
represents 21 of the 23 employees within the appropriate unit. No
objection was made to the introduction of either the cards or the
petition and no question was raised as to the authenticity of the sig-
natures appearing thereon.
We find that the Guild has been designated and selected by a
majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their represen-
tative for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore,
the exclusive reprdsdritative 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 rep-
resentation of employees of Paramount Pictures, Inc., New York
City, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and
(7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All employees of the Company in the editorial and traffic de-
partments of,the News Division, excluding executives and employees
who are members of or eligible to membership in Locals 52, 614,
and 702 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees
and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and
Canada, and including the secretaries to the executives in charge
of the laboratory and technical departments of the News Division,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
3. The Newspaper Guild of New York is the exclusive representa-
tive of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of collective
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 Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as
amended,
100791-38-vol vii--71
1112 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Newspaper Guild of New York has
been designated and selected by a majority of all employees of Par-
amount Pictures, Inc., in the editorial and traffic departments of
the News Division, excluding executives and employeed who are
members of or eligible to membership in Locals 52, 644, and 702 of
the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Mov-
ing Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada,
and including the secretaries to the executives in charge of the lab-
oratory and technical departments of the News Division, as their
representative for the purposes of collective bargaining and that,
pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the Act, the News-
paper Guild of New York 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.