Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 11, 1953

102 N.L.R.B. 1255 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC. 1255
COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC. and UNITED SCENIC ARTISTS,
LOCAL 829, OF TILE BROTHERHOOD OF PAINTERS, DECORATORS, AND
PAPERHANGERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 2-RC-
4825. February 11, 1953
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 John F. Funke, hear-
ing officer. Thereafter, the proceeding was transferred to the Board,
and the Board, having duly considered the matter, deemed that it was
necessary to receive further evidence in the record and ordered a fur-
ther hearing, which was held before Arthur Eisenberg, hearing officer.
The hearing officers' rulings made at the hearings are free from preju-
dicial errors and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chair-
man Herzog and Members Murdock and Peterson].'
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 Petitioner and the Intervenor, International Alliance of
Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Operators of the
United States and Canada, AFL (IATSE), are labor organizations
claiming to represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner requests a unit consisting of scenic designers,
chargemen scenic artists, journeymen scenic artists, costume designers,
assistant costume designers, student designers, student painters, and
set dressers,2 excluding all other employees employed in the television
operations of the Employer. The Intervenor seeks a unit of all set
decorators, excluding all other employees. In support of its position,
the Intervenor contends that the set decorators have different quali-
fications, perform different functions, are not paid the same wages,
are not subject to the same working conditions as the designers, and
are under separate supervision. The Intervenor further contends that
the unit sought by the Petitioner, which would include the set decora-
tors, is inappropriate and moved to dismiss the petition, or in the
i The Petitioner 's request for oral argument is denied because in our opinion the record
and briefs adequately present the positions of the parties.
2 Set dressers are also known as "set decorators ." The Petitioner , which contends that
set decorators are part of the designers group it currently represents , seeks an election in
the unit including the designers and the decorators.
102 NLRB No. 123.
1256 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
alternative that the Board should grant a self-determination election)
for the set decorators. The Employer agrees with the Intervenor.
The Functions of Scenic Designers and Set Decorators
After studying the script of a play, it is the function of the de-
signers to create the television screen picture, with historic accuracy
and fidelity to details characteristic of the period, in accordance with
the requirements of the script. Designers also create the floor plan
and indicate the interior decorating to harmonize with the scenic
design.
The set decorators, who are trained in interior decorating, have the
duty of "dressing the set." For this purpose they are given a copy
of the script and they also attend the production conference, together
with designers and others participating in the production. The set
decorator is responsible for securing the physical properties or "props"
such as furniture, drapes, and all other articles of interior decorating
which would harmonize with the subject of the scene. The set decora-
tor handles the business aspects of procuring these properties, whether
through purchase, rent, loan, or gift. In the early days of television,
the entire responsibility for dressing the set rested with the designers
with some assistance from employees connected with the production.
Although the evidence is somewhat conflicting as to whether, under
the existing organization of the Employer, the set decorator acts inde-
dependently in securing the "props," it appears from the record as a
whole that the job of dressing the set is a composite one and involves
the close cooperation of the designer and the decorator.
The Employer's Bargaining History
The Petitioner has had contracts covering scenic designers for
many years with the Employer and four other broadcasting chains,
who bargained jointly for these employees." Although the Em-
ployer, together with the other joint bargaining parties, originally
relied upon the scenic designers to perform certain of the duties now
being performed by the set decorators, the Employer in the fall of
1949 set up a new classification of set decorators and established such
employees in a separate department under a chief decorator, who
exercises supervisory powers. Thereafter, the Employer took the
position that these employees were not covered by the contract and
refused to bargain for them. No classification of set decorator was
set up by the other joint bargaining employers. The evidence shows
S In addition to the Employer , the other employers who have bargained jointly for the
past and current contracts are National Broadcasting Company, American Broadcasting
Company, Allen B . Dumont Laboratories , Inc., and Station WPIX.
COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC. 1257
that no such identifiable group of employees exists in the organization
of the other employers, and that the work of set decorating is being
performed by several classifications of employees including drapery
-department employees, roving property men, scenic designers, and
sometimes the production coordinator.4
As indicated above, the Petitioner seeks a unit composed of scenic
designers and set decorators at the Columbia Broadcasting System.
It contends that set decorators and scenic designers work closely to-
gether and their interests are so bound up with each other that the only
appropriate unit is one including both classifications. The Petitioner
argues that the Employer, by setting up a separate department for
these decorators has "fragmentized" the function of the scenic de-
signers in order to prevent the inclusion of the set decorators in an
overall unit represented by the Petitioner, and to facilitate the es-
tablishment of a separate unit of set decorators as sought by the Inter-
venor. In support of its contention that the set decorators may not
properly be recognized as a group apart from scenic designers, the
Petitioner points to the fact that no such practice has been established
by any of the employers who have bargained jointly with the Peti-
tioner for a multiemployer unit of scenic designers. The Intervenor,
on the other hand, urges that the set decorators are entitled to separate
representation as a distinctly identifiable group which has no counter-
part in the organizations of the other employers and has not been
covered by the multiemployer history of collective bargaining.
On the basis of the record as a whole, there appears to be sufficient
community of interest between the scenic designer and set decorators
to warrant including them in the same unit for bargaining purposes,
and indeed they might now be so included were there no labor organi-
zation seeking to represent set decorators on a separate basis. We also
believe, however, that, because set decorators perform a function which
is distinguishable from that of scenic designers, and generally are
subject to different working conditions, they constitute a homogeneous
and well-defined group of the type which the Board has held may con-
stitute a separate appropriate units Moreover, because it appears
that among the employees covered by the multiemployer unit, there
are no employees who individually perform all duties of set decorators
and because set decorators, as such, have no history of collective bar-
gaining on a multiemployer basis, we believe that the foregoing pat-
tern of multiemployer bargaining for scenic designers does not pre-
* There are no classifications of drapery department employee or roving property man
at the studio of the Employer. The drapery department employees at NBC are represented
by the Intervenor.
6 Columbia Pictures Corporation , 61, NLRB 1030, 1036 . See Hampton Roads Broadcast-
ing Corp , 100 NLRB 238 amending 98 NLRB No . 192; Pennsylvania Broadcasting Co.,
100 NLRB 254.
1258 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
elude a finding that the separate employer unit of set decorators here
sought may be appropriate .6
Under the circumstances, we find that the set decorators are entitled
to separate representation if they so desire. On the other hand, they
may properly be included in the existing multiemployer unit.? Ac-
cordingly, we shall direct a self-determination election for set decora-
tors and shall place the Petitioner's name on the ballot for the election
herein directed." If in such election, a majority of the set decorators
vote for the Intervenor, they will be taken to have indicated their
desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit and the Regional
Director is hereby authorized to issue a certification of representa-
tives to the Intervenor for the unit hereinafter described, which the
Board, under such circumstances, finds to be appropriate for purposes
of collective bargaining. If, on the other hand, a majority vote for
the Petitioner, the set decorators will have indicated their desire to
become a part of the existing unit represented by the Petitioner, and
the Petitioner may bargain for them as a part of such unit.
The following employees of the Employer may constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All set decorators employed by the Employer, Columbia Broad-
casting System, excluding all other employees, guards, watchmen, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
9 See R. P. Scherer Corporation, Hypospray Division , 95, NLRB 142e ; Ftibreboard'
Products, Inc, 102 NLRB 405; Pacific Coast Association of Pulp and Paper Manufac-
turers, 94 NLRB 477 . Cf. Columbia Pictures Corporation , 84 NLRB 64T, 649, distinguish-
able from the present case inasmuch as in that case it appeared that set designers had a
history of collective bargaining on a multiemployer basis.
' Although the Employer , in agreement with the Intervenor , has expressed a desire for
a separate employer unit for the set decorators , it has not withdrawn from the multiem-
ployer bargaining for the scenic designers and has not otherwise indicated that it desires to
pursue an individual course in labor relations with respect to all groups of its employees.
Cf Pioneer Incorporated, 90 NLRB 1848 . Accordingly , the possibility that the set deco-
rators may be included in the multiemployer unit is not inconsistent with any right on
the part of the Employer to control the type of bargaining which it may become obligated
to pursue under any certification resulting from this proceeding.
B Although the separate employer unit of set decorators and scenic designers sought by
the Petitioner is inappropriate for the reason that scenic designers have been bargained
for on a multiemployer basis, we shall not dismiss the petition, as the Intervenor stands
in the position of a copetitioner with a sufficient showing of interest in the group of set
decorators , which we find may constitute an appropriate unit . However , the Petitioner
may, upon its prompt request to and approval thereof by the Regional Director , have its
name removed from the ballot , if it so desires.