Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 24, 1951

96 N.L.R.B. 1052 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

1052 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Order
IT Is HEREBY ORDERED that the case be, and it hereby is, remanded to
the Regional Director for the Fourteenth Region, who shall proceed
in accordance with Sections 102.61 and 102.62 of the Rules and Regu-
lations of the Board, Series 6.
MEMBERS HOUSTON and STYLES took no part in the consideration of
the above Supplemental Decision and Order.
TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX FILM CORPORATION,' and LOCAL H-63,
MOTION PICTURE HOME OFFICE EMPLOYES UNION, INTERNATIONAL
ALLIANCE OF THEATRICAL STAGE EMPLOYES AND MOVING PICTURE
MACHINE OPERATORS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, AFL,2
PETITIONER
TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX FILM CORPORATION; TWENTIETH CENTURY-
Fox FILM CORPORATION AND MOVIETONEWS , INC.,s AND TWENTIETH
CENTURY-FOB INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION 4 and DISTRICT 65, DIs-
TRIBUT IVE, PROCESSING AND OFFICE WORKERS OF AMERICA,5 PETI-
TIONER . Cases Nos. 2 RC 4.15, 2-RC-3545, 2-RC-3546, and
PL-RC 3547. October 24,1951
Decision, Order, and Direction of Elections
Upon separate petitions e duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, consolidated 7 hearings were held before
Lewis Moore and George Turitz, hearing officers. The hearing offi-
cers ' rulings made at the hearings are free from prejudical error and
are hereby affirmed .8
1 Herein referred to as the Film Corporation.
2 Herein referred to as Local H-63.
8 Herein referred to as Film Corporation- Movietonews.
4 The name of the Employer, herein referred to as Fox-International, is amended to con-
form to the record.
5 Herein referred to as District 65.
6 Local 20, Screen Employees Guild, United Office and Professional Workers of America,
herein referred to as Local 20, appeared jointly with District 65 but did not sign the
petitions.
7 The captioned cases were consolidated for hearing by order of the Regional Director
dated May 24, 1951.
5 After the close of the hearings , District 65 requested permission to withdraw its peti-
tion in Cases Nos. 2-RC-3545, 2-RC-3546, and 2-RC-3547. Local H-63, the Intervenor
in these proceedings, opposed the request and in addition made a showing of interest ade-
quate for a petitioner among the employees involved in Cases Nos. 2-RC-3546 and 2-RC-
3547. Because Local H-63 desires and is presently entitled to elections in Cases Nos.
2-RC-3546 and 2-RC-3547, we find that, under the circumstances, the requested with-
drawal of the petitions in these proceedings would be prejudicial to Local H-63. Accord-
ingly, the request insofar as it affects those two proceedings is hereby denied . However,
96 NLRB No. 155.
TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX FILM CORPORATION 1053
Upon the entire record in these consolidated cases, the Board finds :
1. The businesses of the Employers :
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation is a New York corpora-
tion with its principal office in New York City. It is engaged in the
production and distribution of motion pictures. Although such mo-
tion pictures are produced mainly in California, negatives thereof are
shipped to New York City where positive prints are made for dis-
tribution to exhibitors throughout the United States. The Employ-
er's Film Exchange, the operation involved in Cases Nos. 2-RC-3445
and 2-RC-3545, distributes films in New York and New Jersey.
During the year 1950, the Film Corporation received in excess of
$500,000 in film rentals from exhibitors throughout the United States.
Movietonews, Inc., whose home office and that of the Film Corpora-
tion are the subjects of Case No. 2-RC-3546, is also a New York
corporation, being a wholly owned subsidiary of the Film Corporation.
Movietonews produces newsreels and short subjects both in the United
States and, through subsidiaries, in foreign countries, and turns over
the pictures so produced, having an annual value in excess of $500,000,
to the Film Corporation for distribution in this country and abroad.
Twentieth Century-Fox International Corporation (Case No. 2-RC-
3547), a New York corporation, is also a wholly owned subsidiary
of the Film Corporation. Through its foreign subsidiaries, Fox In-
ternational distributes films in foreign countries for the Film Cor-
poration. The value of the films so distributed exceeds $100,000 per
year.
We find that each of the Employers herein is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act, and that it will effectuate the purposes
of the Act to assert jurisdiction in these cases .9
2. The parties agree and we find that Local H-63 is a labor organ-
ization within the meaning of the Act and that it claims to represent
certain employees of the Employers. However, the Employers re-
fused to stipulate similarly with respect to District 65 and Local 20.
The record reveals that both these organizations have constitutions
upon prompt request to, and approval thereof by , the Regional Director, District 65 may
have its name removed from the ballots.
With respect to Case No . 2-RC-3545, however , the unit there sought is the same as that
in Case No . 2-RC-3445 in which Local H-63 is the Petitioner . Since the requested with-
drawal of the petition in Case No . 2-RC-3545 cannot affect the right of Local H-63 to
an election among the employees involved in this proceeding, we shall grant the request
and dismiss the petition in Case No. 2-RC-3545. The name of District 65, however, will
be placed on the ballot subject to the right of District 65 to request its removal by proper
application to the Regional Director. In view of the foregoing , we find it unnecessary to
act upon the motion of Local H-63 to dismiss the petitions of District 65.
Peter Reid , one of the group of readers employed in the Film Corporation -Movietonews
offices, was allowed to intervene in Case No . 2-RC-3546 as representative of such group
on the basis of signed cards designating him as representative for the purpose of seeking
their exclusion from the unit.
9 Stanialaus Implement and Hardware Co., Ltd., 91 NLRB 618; Hollow Tree Lumber
Company, 91 NLRB 635.
1054 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and- officers, and were organized for the purpose of bargaining collec-
tively with the Employers in regard to wages, hours, and working
conditions. In view of the foregoing, we find that District 65 and
Local 20 are labor organizations within the meaning of the Act, and
that they claim to represent certain employees of the Employers.10
3. At the hearing the Employers contended that the above-men-
tioned contracts with Local 109 constitute bars to these proceedings,
pointing out that these contracts are now being administered by
Local 20. As these contracts are about to expire, we find that they do
not constitute bars to current determinations of representatives."
We find that questions affecting commerce exist concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Employers, within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate units :
The parties are in agreement as to the composition of the Film Ex-
change (Case No. 2-RC-3445) and the Fox International office units
(Case No. 2-RC-3547). In these cases, we shall direct elections in the
stipulated units hereinafter found appropriate. Except with respect
to readers, there is also general concurrence in the composition of the
Film Corporation-Movietonews home office unit (Case No. 2-RC-
3546). The status of the readers whom Local H-63 would include in
the unit constitutes the only unit issue to be determined in this pro-
ceeding.
The readers: Reid, the representative of the readers, contends that
they should be excluded from the Film Corporation-Movietonews
home office unit apparently on the ground that they are professional
employees. The Employer, Film Corporation-Movietonews, Dis-
trict 65, and Local 20 take no position. As noted above, Local H-63
favors their inclusion. -
The Board certification of Local 109 in 1942 112 excluded readers
since they, at that time, were members of the Screen Readers Guild, an
affiliate of the UOPWA, CIO. Shortly thereafter, Local 109 sug-
gested to the Employer, the Film Corporation-Movietonews, and the
Employer agreed, that the readers be included in the home office unit.
Since 1942, therefore, the readers have been covered by the contracts
of Local 109 without objection from the Screen Readers Guild which
has never contracted with the Employer.
The work of the readers involves the reading of books, plays, radio
10 As a result of the merger of several labor organizations, Local 20 and District 65
claim to be successors in interest to Local 109, Screen Office and Professional Employees
Guild. United Office and Professional Workers of America, CIO , which each Employer
contracted on October 21, 1949, to recognize as sole bargaining representative. These
contracts, each covering one of the bargaining units here involved , by their terms expire
on October 24, 1951. District 65 also made showings of interest sufficient to support
its petitions.
11 W. S. Tyler Company, 93 NLRB 523.
12 40 NLRB 464.
TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX FILM CORPORATION 1055
scripts, and other types of manuscripts submitted for consideration
for screen and/or stage production. Readers make synopses of this
material which they thereafter critically analyze from a literary point
of view. At times, a reader will attend and evaluate plays presented
on the legitimate stage.
While the Employer does not require that a reader have a college
degree, a good educational background, formal or otherwise, is ne-
cessary. A representative of the Employer testified that the Employer
sought to "get people with some college education," although the
equivalent, e. g., experience in similar work, was accepted. The record
discloses that a majority of the readers have some college training.
More important, however, is the requirement that a reader have a
fairly wide knowledge of literature and some talent for writing.
Consistent with this requirement, the record discloses that the Em-
ployer has preferred "people who had some flare for the literary
field."
Each reader has his own room, located in the story department.
Readers work independently without immediate supervision. They
are directed in their work by a person who is a supervisor and who has
the title of "in charge of readers." Their work is predominately in-
tellectual and varied in character, involving the consistent exercise of
discretion and an aesthetic type of judgment. Its performance re-
quires a generally advanced knowledge of literature and writing.
Upon the record as a whole, we find that the readers are professional
employees within the meaning of the Act.
The Board is prohibited by the Act from including professional
employees in a unit with nonprofessional employees unless a majority
of the professional employees vote for inclusion in such a unit. Ac-
cordingly, we must ascertain the desires of the professional employees
as to inclusion in a unit with employees who are not professional?
We shall, therefore, direct separate elections in the following voting
groups:
(a) All readers at the offices of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Cor-
poration and Movietonews, Inc., New York City, at 444 West 56th
Street, 448 West 56th Street, 850 Tenth Avenue, 460 West 54th Street,
and 30 Rockefeller Plaza, all in New York City, excluding super-
visors as defined in the Act.
(b) All office, clerical, secretarial, and accounting employees at the
offices of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation and Movie-
tonews, Inc., New York City, at 444 West 56th Street, 448 West 56th
Street, 850 Tenth Avenue, 460 West 54th Street, and 30 Rockefeller
Plaza, all in New York City, including bookkeepers, auditors, recep-
tionists, telephone and telegraph operators, office boys, comptometer
is See Sonotone Corporation, 90 NLRB 1236.
i
1056 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR . RELATIONS BOARD
operators, accountants, billing and bookkeeping machine operators,
cashiers,,typing clerks, secretaries, requisition department clerks, mail
clerks, stenographers, messengers, typists, reproduction machine oper-'
ators, general clerks, tabulation operators, statisticians, copyright li-
brarians, and print and accessory expediters, but excluding executives,
officers, traveling and confidential auditors, lawyers, engineers, main-
tenance employees, publicists, translators, secretaries to officers of
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, and to the operating head
of Movietonews, Inc., secretaries to major department heads of Twen-
tieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, secretaries to major sales de-
partment executives and to personnel executive of sales department
of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, secretaries to lawyers,
supervisor of confidential executive files, supervisor of general legal
files, supervisor of files in the office of the president of the Twentieth
Century-Fox Film Corporation, assistant purchasing agent, confiden-
tial sales statistician, employees in personnel department, confidential
employees in treasury department, and all watchmen, guards, profes-
sional 14 employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
Each summer, during the school vacation period, Film Corpora-
tion-Movietonews hired some students as temporary employees. Most
of these employees work as messengers. Though they go back to
school at the close of the summer, the evidence indicates that the ma-
jority return year after year. In view of the recurring character of
the employment of the majority of these workers, and the fact that
they perform duties similar to those of regular employees, under com-
parable working conditions, we find that they have a substantial in-
terest in the selection of a bargaining representative, and that they
are, therefore, eligible as seasonal employees to cast ballots in the
election directed herein for the office and clerical voting group of Film
Corporation-Movietonews home offices.15
The employees in the professional voting group (a) will be asked
two questions on their ballot : (1) Do you desire to be included in a
unit composed of office and clerical employees in the New York offices
of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation and Movietonews, Inc.,
for the purposes of collective bargaining? (2) Do you desire to be
represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by District 65,
Distributive, Processing and Office Workers of America,16 by Local
H-63, Motion Picture Home Office Employes Union, International
Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes and Moving Picture Machine
Operators of the United States and Canada, AFL, or by neither? If
is No contention is made that professional employees , other than readers, should be
included in the home office unit.
35 R. L . Polk and Co., 91 NLRB 443 ; Foremost Dairies, Inc., 86 NLRB 585.
" The petition of District 65 requesting that the designation on the ballot be "District
65, Distributive Processing and Office Workers of America," and withdrawing its demand
made at the hearings that District 65 and Local 20 appear jointly on the ballot in any
Board election , is hereby granted.
TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX FILM CORPORATION 1057
a majority of the readers in voting group (a) vote "Yes" to the first
question, indicating their wish to be included in a unit with the office
and clerical employees, they will be so included. Their votes on the
second question will then be counted together with the votes of the
nonprofessional voting group (b) to decide the representative for the
whole office and clerical unit. If, on the other hand, a majority of the
readers in voting group (a) vote against inclusion, they will not be
included with the nonprofessional employees. Their votes on the
second question will then be separately counted to decide which union,
if either, they want to represent them in a separate professional unit.
There is no indication in the record that either union would be unwill-
ing to represent the professional employees separately, if those em-
ployees vote for separate representation. However, if either union
does not desire to represent the professional employees in a separate
unit even if those employees vote for such representation, that union
may notify the Regional Director to that effect within ten (10) days
of the date of this Decision and Direction of Elections.
Our unit determination in Case No. 2-RC-3546 will be based, in
part, therefore, upon the results of the elections hereinafter directed
in voting groups (a) and (b).
Film Exchange, Case No. 2-RC-3445
We find that all office clerical and accounting employees at the Twen-
tieth Century-Fox Film Corporation's Film Exchange in New York
City, excluding executives, officers, managers, salesmen, confidential
secretary to the office manager, checking supervisors, exploiters, ship-
ping, poster, and inspection employees (covered under separate con-
tracts), guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defined in the Act, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
Fox International Office, Case No. 2-RC-3547
We find that all office, clerical, secretarial, and accounting employ-
ees at the offices of Twentieth Century-Fox International Corpora-
tion, New York City, at 444 West 56th Street, including bookkeepers,
auditors, receptionists, telephone and telegraph operators, office boys,
comptometer operators, cashiers, typing clerks, secretaries, requisi-
tion department clerks, mail clerks, stenographers, messengers, typ-
ists, reproduction machine operators, general clerks, tabulation
operators, statisticians, readers,- copyright librarians, and print and
"All parties stipulated to the composition of this unit . The record however, does
not indicate whether or not Fox International employs any readers. Without such evi-
dence, or if in fact they are employed, without evidence of their duties , we make no finding
as to employ ees in this category. They will be permitted to vote subject to challenge.
1058 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
accessory expediters, accountants, and billing and bookkeeping ma-
chine operators, but excluding executives, officers, traveling and con-
fidential auditors, lawyers, engineers, maintenance employees, pub-
licists, translators, secretaries to president and vice presidents, secre-
taries to lawyers, assistant purchasing agent, employees in personnel
department, confidential sales statistician, confidential employees in
treasury department, and all watchmen, guards, professional em-
ployees, and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the request of District 65 to withdraw
its petition for investigation and certification of representatives in
Case No. 2-RC-3545 be, and it hereby is, granted, and that the said
case be, and it hereby is, closed.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
CHAIRMAN HERZOG and MEMBER MURDOCK took no part in the con-
sideration of the above Decision, Order, and Direction of Elections.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY and HANFORD ATOMIC METAL TRADES
COUNCIL , AFL, PETITIONER . Case No . 19-UA-t297. October 04,
1951
Order Closing Case
On October 22, 1951, an amendment to the Labor-Management Rela-
tions Act of 1947 was approved (Public Law 189-82d Congress)
which renders the issues involved in the above-entitled proceeding
moot. Therefore,
IT IS ORDERED that the said proceeding be, and it hereby is, closed.
MEMBERS HOUSTON and MuRDOCK took no part in the consideration
of the above Order Closing Case.
96 NLRB No. 172.
BA.ALT ROCK COMPANY, INC. and INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S
AND WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, LOCAL 6, PETITIONER . Case No. 20-
RC-1458. October 05, 1951
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Nathan R. Berke, hear-
96 NLRB No. 165.