WSPR, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 20, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 1351 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of WSPR , INC. and NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROAD-
CAST ENGINEERS AND TECHNICIANS
Case No. 1-R--247.Decided March 20, 1945
Mr. August J. Burati, of Springfield, Mass., for the Company.
Mr. A. T. Powley, of Washington, D. C., for the Association.
Mr. Russell D. Lighty, of Dedham, Mass., for the I. B. E. W.
Mr. Donald H. Frank, of counsel to the Board. -
DECISION
,AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by National Association of Broadcast
Engineers and Technicians, herein called the Association, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of WSPR, Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Robert E.
Greene, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Springfield,
Massachusetts, on February 2, 1945. ' The Company, the Association,
and Radio Broadcast Technicians Local Union #1282, affiliated with
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (AFL), herein called
the I. B. E. W., appeared and participated. All parties were afforded
full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Exam-
iner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and
are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file
briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
WSPR, Inc., is engaged in the business of radio broadcasting pur-
suant to a license granted the corporation by the Federal Communi-
60 N. L. R. B., No. 236.
1351
1352 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cations Commission. During the daylight hours it operates on a
frequency of 1,000 kilowatts ; during the night hours, on a frequency
of 500 kilowatts. Its signals are heard throughout northern and_
western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. Approximately 50
percent of its program material is supplied to it by the Blue Network.
All of this Blue Network material is picked up by the Company from
points outside the State of Massachusetts and relayed by it. The
annual gross income of the Company is in excess of $125,000, and over
50 percent of this sum is derived from national advertising.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, and we so find.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians is a
labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
Radio Broadcast Technicians Local Union #1282, International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, affiliated with the American Fed-
eration of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Association
as the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees
until the Association has been certified by the Board - in an
appropriate unit.
On November 19, 1942, the I. B. E. W. signed a collective bargain-
ing contract with the Company, covering the unit sought herein.
This contract provided that it would remain in effect until November
1, 1943, and "continue from year to year thereafter, from November 1
of any year to November 1 of the next succeeding ydar," unless
notice of desire to terminate or change were given "in writing at
least 30 days prior to November 1 of any year." On October 1, 1943,
the I. B. E. W. requested in writing the extension of the contract to
February 1, 1944. The letter from the I. B. E. W. stated that the
request was made because wage adjustments were pending before the
National War Labor Board, and added, "this will correspond to the
term of the WMAS 1 agreement and will enable our International
Office to serve both contracts with less travel ..." The Company did
not reply, to this request, but the I., B. E. W. and the Company
agreed that the contract was extended to February 1, 1944. In
March 1944, the National War Labor Board issued its wage revisions,
I WMAS is the only other Springfield , Massachusetts , radio station.
WSPR, INC. 1353 '
and in June 1944 the contracting parties appended an "addendum"
to their original contract, which incorporated the new wage pro-
visions and said, "Addendum made the 26th day of June 1944, to
Agreement executed the 19th day of November 1942 . . ." and "Said
Agreement, except as modified by this addendum, is specifically herein
renewed as of February 1, 1944."
It is the contention of the I. B. E. W. that the claim of interest
sent on December 29, 1944, by the Association to the Company was
not timely because the renewal provision of the addendum renewed
all the provisions of the contract, except as to wages, in exactly their
original terms, resulting in the renewal of the contract as of Novem-
ber 1, 1944. The Company's understanding was that the addendum
altered the contract's terms to make it effective from February 1 to
February 1, and pursuant to that understanding it notified the
I. B. E. W. on December 29, 1944, that it would not renew the
contract when it expired on February 1, 1945. The October 1, 1943,
letter from the I. B. E. W. to the Company showed the desire of
the I. B. E. W. to substitute February for November in the contract.
We are of the opinion that the contention of the I. B. E. W. is
without foundation. Since the Association's claim of majority mem-
bership was submitted more than 30 days prior to February 1, its
notice was timely, and the contract is not a bar to a present determi-
nation of representatives.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Association represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found-appropriate .2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. -
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Association, the I. B. E. W., and the Company agree that all
engineers and technicians of the Company who operate the facilities
of the Engineering Department used in transmitting, converting, or
conducting audio and radio in broadcasting and on-the-air play back,
constitute an appropriate unit. The parties also agree on the inclu-
sion of the chief engineer in that unit. We note, however, that the
chief engineer has the authority to recommend hire and discharge.
We shall, therefore, exclude the chief engineer from the unit herein-
after found appropriate.
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Association submitted six authorization cards,
all of which bore apparently genuine original signatures ; that the names of all persons
appearing on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll which contained the names
of five employees in the appropriate unit, and that the cards were dated five in Novem-
ber and one in December 1944. -
1354 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that all engineers and technicians of the Company who
operate the facilities of the Engineering Department used in 'trans-
mitting, converting, or conducting audio and radio in broadcasting
and on-the-air play back, but excluding the chief engineer and any
other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question' concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth -in the
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with WSPR, Inc.,
Springfield, Massachusetts, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60) days from
the date of this Direction under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the First Region, acting in this matter as agent
for the National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III,
Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction, including employees who did not work during
said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tempo-
rarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but
excluding any who have since quit or been discharged for cause and
have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election,
to determine whether they desire to be represented by National Asso-
ciation of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians, or by Radio Broad-
cast Technicians Local Union #1282, affiliated with the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (AFL), for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining, or by neither.