Columbia Pictures Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 9, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 1313 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION, PARAMOUNT PIC-
TURES, INC., WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC., LoEw 's INCORPORATED,
UNIVERSAL PICTURES COMPANY, INC., RKO RADIO PICTURES, INC.,
SAMUEL GOLDWYN, DOING BUSINESS AS SAMUEL GOLDWYN STUDIOS,
REPUBLIC PRODUCTIONS , INC., HAL E. ROACH STUDIOS , INC., AND
TWENTIETH CENTURY-Fox FILM CORPORATION , EMPLOYERS and IN-
TERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF THEATRICAL STAGE EMPLOYEES AND MO-
TION PICTURE MACHINE OPERATORS OF U. S. & CANADA, PETITIONER
Case No. 21-R-4006.-Decided March 9,1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed?
Upon the entire record in this case,2 the Board .finds :
1. The Employers are engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Mo-
tion Picture Machine Operators of U. S. & Canada, herein called
the Petitioner, and Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper-
hangers of America, Screen Set Designers, Illustrators and Decora-
tors , Local 1421, AFL, herein called the Intervenor, are labor
I The hearing officer denied the Intervenor ' s motions , all based upon pending unfair labor
practice charges filed by the Intervenor against the Employers ( Case No. 21-CA-255), for
a continuance of the hearing , an adjournment of the hearing , the consolidation of this
proceeding with the unfair labor practice proceedings , and the stay of this proceeding
pending an appeal from the hearing officer's rulings denying such motions . The Intervenor
also moved to dismiss the petition herein, on the basis of such pending unfair labor practice
charges. The hearing officer referred this motion to the Board . For the reasons set
forth in Section 5, infra, the hearing officer's rulings are affirmed , and the Intervenor's
motion to dismiss is denied.
R As the hearing in this matter has been concluded , the Intervenor 's petition for leave to
appeal from rulings of hearing officer is being considered as a memorandum in support
of its objections to such rulings . As the record fully presents the Issues involved herein,
the Intervenor 's requests for oral argument , and for leave to file a brief in support
of its petition for leave to appeal , are denied.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 207.
1313
1314 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
organizations claiming to represent certain employees of the
Employers.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employers within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees of the Employers constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section (9) (b) of the Act:
All set decorators employed at the Employers' California studios,
excluding professional employees, guards, and supervisors, as defined
in the Act .3
5. The determination of representatives :
The Intervenor contends that, because of the pendency of certain
unfair labor practice charges filed by the Intervenor against the Em-
ployers,4 the Board should not direct an immediate election in this
proceeding. We do not agree.
The petition in this proceeding has been pending since May 21, 1947.
Because of the pendency of two unfair labor practice charges previ-
ously filed by the Intervenor against the Employers,5 the investiga-
tion of the question concerning representation in this proceeding had
been held in abeyance. Subsequently, the two charges were dismissed
by the Regional Director. One dismissal ° was appealed to the Gen-
eral Counsel, who upheld the action of the Regional Director.
The pending unfair labor practice charge was filed 4 days prior to
the hearing in this proceeding, and after the service of the notice of
hearing. Although the pending charge alleges discriminatory re-
fusals to hire subsequent to the dismissal of the previous charges, the
basic pattern of conduct is apparently the same as that relied upon
in support of the previous charges, and found by the Regional Direc-
tor and, in one of the two cases by the General Counsel, not to support
the issuance of complaints.'
It is true, as asserted by the Intervenor, that the Board does not,
as a general practice, direct an election during the pendency of an
unfair labor practice charge affecting the unit involved in the repre-
sentation proceeding, absent the filing of waivers by the charging
party. This practice is, however, a matter which lies within the dis-
cretion of the Board, as part of its function of determining whether
an election will effectuate the policies of the Act, and is not required
'This is the same unit as was established in a prior proceeding. Matter of Columbia
Pictures Corporation , et al., 61 N L R B. 1030, 64 N . L R B 490.
Case No. 21-CA-255
Cases Nos 21-C-2901 and 21-C-3094
Case No 21-C-2901
'The Board is not empowered to review the refusal of the General Counsel to issue a
complaint . Sec 3 ( d), National Labor Relations Act, as amended
COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION 1315
either by the Act or by the Board's Rules and Regulations. Accord-
ingly, an exception may be made to the general practice when, in
certain situations, the Board is of the opinion that'the direction of an
immediate election will effectuate the policies of the Act .8
On the basis of the particular facts in this case,9 we are of the
opinion that it will best effectuate the policies of the Act, and promote
the orderly processes of collective bargaining, to direct an immediate
election herein, despite the pendency of the unfair labor practice
charges and the refusal of the Intervenor to file waivers with respect
thereto. ' Accordingly, we shall direct an immediate election herein.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employers, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Twenty-first Region,
and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among employees
in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did
not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on
vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who
have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired
or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding
employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine
whether they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bar-
gaining, by International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and
Motion Picture Machine Operators of U. S. & Canada, or by Brother-
hood of Painters, Decorators, and Paperhangers of America, Screen
Set Designers, Illustrators and Decorators, Local 1421, or by neither.'°
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
0 See , for example , Matter of Bercut Richards Packing Company, et al., 70 N L R B. 84
Especially the length of time this proceeding has been pending , the fact that the
employees in the unit have been without representation for collective bargaining purposes
during that period , and the dismissal of the earlier charges, which charges were apparently
grounded upon the same basic pattern of conduct as the pending charge.
10 Upon a prompt request to , and approval thereof by , the Regional Director , either par-
ticipant in the election may have its name removed from the ballot.
829595-50-vol. 81-84