El Mundo, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 2, 1960

127 N.L.R.B. 538 (N.L.R.B. 1960)

538 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
El Mundo, Inc. (WKAQ-TV Telemundo ), and El Mundo Broad-
casting Corp. (WKAQ Radio El Mundo ) and Asociacion
Puertorriquena de Artistas, Ind., Petitioner . Case No. 24-RC-
1134. May 2, 1960
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed imder Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Juan R. Torruella, 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-
member panel [Chairman Leedom and Members Rodgers and
Jenkins].
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. El Mundo Broadcasting Corporation, a Puerto Rico corporation,
owns and operates a radio station known as WKAQ Radio El Mundo,
herein called WKAQ. El Mundo, Inc., a Puerto Rico corporation,
owns and operates a newspaper, not here in issue, and a television sta-
tion known as WKAQ-TV Telemundo, herein called WKAQ-TV.
WKAQ and WKAQ-TV are situated in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
WKAQ and WKAQ-TV are under separate managers, who retain
the right separately to hire and discharge their personnel. Each
station has separate payrolls and separately hired technical staffs.
The training requirements for talent and technical staffs of each are
different, as are their salary rates. On the other hand, WKAQ and
WKAQ-TV are owned by a single stockholder, who retains control
of the labor relations of both firms and who is the chairman of the
board of directors and the president of both firms which, with one
exception, have the same directors and officers. The studios of each
are only 2 miles apart. Payrolls for both firms are processed at El
Mundo, Inc. Exclusive contracts for the WKAQ-TV talent provide
that such talent, when not needed by WKAQ-TV, shall also assist in
WKAQ productions as needed. Thus, many members of the WKAQ-
TV talent staff also work for WKAQ.
In these circumstances, including the common ownerships, inter-
locking officers, and the evidence of centralized control, we find that
127 NLRB No. 72.
EL MUNDO, INC. (WKAQ-TV TELEMUNDO), ETC. 539
WKAQ and WKAQ-TV constitute a single employer for the pur-
poses of the Act.' Accordingly, we further find that the requested
overall unit is appropriate for the purposes of collective'bargaming.2
We turn now to the composition of the miit. The Petitioner would
include all performing and nonperforming employees in the unit
herein sought.' The unit sought is essentially a unit of program and
engineering department employees. The Employer takes no clear
position as to the composition of the unit, but does not positively op-
pose the unit sought. Under these circumstances, and in accord with
Board custom, we find a unit of these employees appropriate.4
Actors and actresses : WKAQ and WKAQ-TV present the follow-
ing types of programs :
1. Programs produced by the stations, as sustaining or "participat-
ing" programs, or as so-called package programs for sponsors, where
the stations provide the time, facilities, and talent. In such cases the
stations hire the talent, place them on their payrolls, and make the
usual tax and social security deductions from their pay. The parties
agree that in regard to such programs the actors and actresses are
employees of the stations.
2. Various other package programs where the stations provide the
time and facilities, but where the talent is secured by the stations from
production agencies and loaned to sponsors or other producers, or is
secured directly by sponsors or producers. In such cases the sponsors,
agents, or producers pay and control the actors and actresses.
As to the type 1 program, we find that the production and broadcast-
ing thereof constitute an integral part of the stations' own broadcast-
ing business, and that the stations have an employment interest in the
talent in such instances. On the other hand, with regard to the type 2
program, we find that the stations do not have an employment interest
in such talent, and the latter are excluded from the unit.5
Dancers, comedians, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and disc
jockeys: WKAQ and WKAQ-TV deny that they employ individuals
as dancers, comedians, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and disc
jockeys, and the record supports their contention. Accordingly, we
shall make no unit determination as to the placement of these cate-
gories at this time.
1 Musgrave Manufacturing Company and Mast -Foos Manufacturing Company, Inc,
124 NLRB 258
2Florida Broadcasting Co. (WMBR-AM, WMBR-FM and TVMBR-TV), 93 NLRB 1568;
see A H. Belo Corporation, 101 NLRB X168.
s Alternatively, the Petitioner seeks separate units of radio and TV performers and
nonperformers , or a unit of radio and TV performers, a unit of TV nonperformers, and a
unit of radio nonperformers.
°Radio and Television Station WFLA ( The Tribune Company ), 120 NLRB 903;
Southern Radio and Television Equipment Company, Television Station WTVJ, 107
NLRB 216.
5 El Mundo Broadcasting Corp., 97 NLRB 1255.
540 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Musicians and vocalists: The Petitioner would include certain per-
formers hired by WKAQ if the Board finds that they are vocalists
rather than musicians. As it does not appear that these performers
are already represented and as the Petitioner offers no cogent reason
for not including them, we include them, however denominated.
Dubbing department employees: The Petitioner would include the
dubbing department employees in the unit; WKAQ and WKAQ-TV
would apparently exclude them. The dubbing department includes
actors and technicians engaged in producing sound tracks in Spanish
which are substituted for English language sound tracks on films
presented by WKAQ-TV. They perform no dubbing for WKAQ.
The dubbing department is located in the building which houses El
Mundo, Inc., and is adjacent to the WKAQ operations. Dubbing
department employees are separately supervised and are not inter-
changeable in their functions with other WKAQ or WKAQ-TV em-
ployees. However, several of them also work for both stations in
other capacities. Under these circumstances, as their work is closely
related to the WKAQ-TV productions, and as their separate repre-
sentation is not sought, we find that they possess a sufficient community
of interest with other employees in the unit to warrant their inclusion
therein.
Translators: WKAQ-TV has 10 to 14 translators, whom it trains
and who work for it on a, continuous basis. However, these translators
do not receive a salary but are paid on the basis of a fixed fee per pic-
ture, plus a bonus for performing their work within a shorter time
than scheduled. Nor does WKAQ-TV withhold taxse or deduct so-
cial security from the moneys paid to these individuals who consider
themselves as self-employed and perform their work at their homes
entirely without direction from station personnel. In these circum-
stances, we find that the translators are independent contractors and
exclude them from the unit.6
Transmitter operators: The Petitioner would include the trans-
mitter operators. The Employer appears to raise an issue as to the
status of transmitter operators as professional employees, but offers
no evidence in support of that position. The record merely shows that
the transmitter operators, as holders of first-class FCC operators'
licenses, perform the usual duties of their calling. As the record con-
tains nothing, other than the Employer's contention, to indicate that
the transmitter operators are professional employees as defined in the
Act, we shall include them.'
Program or TV directors and technical directors: We exclude the
program or TV directors and technical directors from the unit as
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp, 89 NLRB 109, at 112, footnote 5.
7 See Southern Radio and Television Equipment Company, Television Station WTVJ,
supra.
INTERNATIONAL HOD CARRIERS, ETC., LOCAL NO. 1140 541
supervisors, as uncontroverted evidence shows that they can effec-
tively recommend the hire or discharge of employees.
Accordingly, we find that all performing and nonperforming em-
ployees (comprising in effect a program and engineering department)
of stations WKAQ and WKAQ-TV in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in-
cluding talent employees working on sustaining or package programs
produced by the Employer, and dubbing department employees, but
excluding talent employees appearing exclusively on programs by an
outside sponsor, agency, or producer, and further excluding executive,
administrative, and professional personnel, office clerical employees,
announcers, script writers, control technicians," guards, and super-
visors as defined,in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collectively bargaining under Section 9(b) of the Act.
5. The parties agree that all talent employees who hold exclusive
contracts with WKAQ and WKAQ-TV are eligible for inclusion in
the unit herein found appropriate as employees of those stations.
The Petitioner would also include all talent employees who work more
than 6 hours a year for these stations. In accord with our rule earlier
established in such cases, we shall adopt a 2-day eligibility require-
ment in the instant case. All employees within the appropriate unit
shall be eligible to vote who have had 2 or more days of employment
during the 12 months immediately preceding the date of this Decision
and Direction of Election .9
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
8 These announcers, scriptwriters, and control technicians, employed by WKAQ-Radio
El Mundo, are currently represented by a labor organization other than the Petitioner.
e Colgate Palmolive Peet Co., 96 NLRB 311, Cavendish Record Manufacturing Company,
et al., 124 NLRB 1161.
International Hod Carriers, Building and Common Laborers'
Union of America, Local No. 1140, AFL-CIO and Gilmore
Construction Company. Case No. 17-CC-111. May 4, 1960
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon charges filed on November 24, 1959, and December 2, 1959,
by Gilmore Construction Company, herein called Gilmore, the Gen-
eral Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, herein respec-
tively called the General Counsel and the Board, by the Regional
Director for the Seventeenth Region, issued a complaint dated Decem-
ber 8, 1959, against International Hod Carriers, Building and Com-
mon Laborers' Union of America, Local No. 1140, AFL-CIO, herein
called the Respondent, alleging that the Respondent had engaged in
and was engaging in unfair labor practices affecting commerce within
127 NLRB No. 74.