Westchester Broadcasting Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 12, 1951

93 N.L.R.B. 1346 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

1346 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
does not include all the same or similar classifications .9 We believe
that to grant a separate unit for the market employees in this case
would be to accord controlling weight to the extent of the Petitioner's
organization, which we are precluded from doing under the amended
Act. Accordingly, the Board finds that the unit requested by the
Petitioner is inappropriate. 10
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.
0 Stanolind Oil and Gas Research Section, 81 NLRB 1089. Cf. General Motors Corpora-
tion, Buick Motor Division, 92 NLRB 1589.
10 Montgomery Ward, Incorporated, 90 NLRB 609 ; Grossman Department Store, Inc.,
90 NLRB No. 275.
WESTCHESTER BROADCASTING CORPORATION and NEW YORK LOCAL,
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF RADIO ARTISTS , AFFILIATED WITH Asso-
CIATED ACTORS AND ARTISTES OF AMERICA , AFL, PETITIONER. Case
No. 2-RC-3160. April 12, 1951
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 I. L. Broadwin, hearing offi-
cer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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 Houston and Reynolds].
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 organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of the Employer's special
program and staff announcers. The Employer would limit the unit
to staff announcers. At its Radio Station WFAS, White Plains, New
York, the Employer has five full-time nonsupervisory staff announcers.
Each spends 20 to 30 hours weekly before the microphone, and the
balance of his working time in preparing material to be broadcast, in
93 NLRB No. 241.
WESTCHESTER BROADCASTING CORPORATION 1347
rehearsing "live programs," and in drawing from the station's library
musical transcriptions and records as specified in the programs drawn
up by the program department.
The staff announcers, under the immediate supervision of the chief
announcer, are included in the station's program department. The
only other employees in that department are four individuals 1 whom
the Petitioner refers to as special program announcers, and whom it
seeks to include in the unit because they spend some portion of their
time in announcing. The actual amount of time that each of these
four appears before the microphone is no more than an hour per week,
while another hour or so is spent in rehearsing for the broadcast.
Two of the four so-called special program announcers are regular
part-time employees who devote all of their working time, other than
rehearsal and the actual broadcast, to securing guests who are active
in community affairs, for appearances in the program, and in pre-
paring the material for such program. The two remaining members
of the program department are full-time employees whose working
time, other than the short periods spent in broadcasting and rehears-
ing, is devoted to program preparation. Schneider, who is assistant
program director, decides what pieces are to be included in musical
programs, solicits personal appearances for broadcasts, prepares dis-
cussion material and does other work related to program preparation.
Ocskasy does most of the detail work in the program department such
as filing musical library index cards and typing out the musical pro-
grams. She also assists or supplements Schneider's work in making
up the musical programs and in soliciting guest appearances for
broadcasts.
Developing and scheduling programs, writing continuity, and
soliciting appearances on station programs are all activities which are
closely related to the actual broadcast and are as necessary to it as the
station announcements and other activities actually performed before
the microphone.2 As even the staff announcers spend substantial por-
tions of their time in activities preparatory to broadcasting, we are
satisfied that a unit consisting of announcers and others engaged in
program preparation 'constitutes a homogeneous and cohesive group,
without regard to the portion of their time spent in actual announc-
ing, or whether some may in fact do no announcing at all.
We find, therefore, that the following employees constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
I Schneider , Ocskasy, Haynes , and Kimball.
2 Miami Vallee Broadcasting Corporation, 70 NLRB 1015 ; West Central Broadcasting
Company, 77 NLRB 366; Delaware Broadcasting Company, 82 NLRB 727; and Ridson,
Inc, 91 NLRB No. 59. WWEZ Radio , Inc, 91 NLRB 1518 , and Badger Broadcasting
Co., 92 NLRB No. 161, to the extent that they are inconsistent herewith , are hereby
overruled.
1348 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
All employees in the program department of Radio Station WFAS,
White Plains, New York, who announce, write continuity, do program
preparation, solicit guests for broadcasting appearances, or do other
related work preliminary to the broadcast, excluding all other em-
ployees and supervisors as defined in the Acts
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
' As the work of these employees appears to be substantially all within the program,
department , we find that this disposes of any question of eligibility to vote in the election.
APPALACHIAN ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE and LOCAL UNION No. 760, INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, A. F. OF L.,
PETITIONER . Case No. 10-RC-1184. April 12, 1951
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before John C. Carey, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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-mem-
ber panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles].
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 organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. Questions affecting commerce exist 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 Petitioner seeks, primarily, a broad unit composed of all
employees at the Employer's Jefferson City, Tennessee, electric plant,
' The Employer , a Tennessee chartered nonprofit electric cooperative, financed by Rural
Electrification Administration, is engaged in the sale of electricity to customers in five
east Tennessee counties During the past year , the Employer ' s purchases amounted to,
approximately $377,426 Of this amount, $185,203 represented electricity purchased
fiom the Tennessee Valley Authority, and approximately $90,000 represented supplies
which originated outside the State During the same period, the Employer sold electricity
to its customers within the State valued at approximately $447,316 Of this amount,
$60,000 represented sales to the American Zinc Company, and $40 , 000 represented sales
to Universal Exploration Company. Both these companies annually sell and ship more
than $50,000 worth of materials outside the State of Tennessee. See Hollow Tree
Lumber Company, 91 NLRB 635 Cherol.ee County Rural Electric Cooperative Association,
92 NLRB 1181
93 NLRB No. 243.