King Trendle Broadcasting Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 31, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 926 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter Of KING TRUNDLE BROADCASTING CORPORATION. AND
AMERICAN BROADCASTING COMPANY, INC., EMPLOYERS and NATIONAL
AssocIATION OF BROADCAST ENGINEERS AND TECIINICIANS, PETI-
TIONER
Case No. 7-R-2616.-Decided July 31, 1947
Mr. Raymond J. Meurer, of Detroit, Mich., for the Employer.
O'Donoghue, Dunn, Mills, and Walsh, by Cllr. Thomas X. Dunn, of
Washington, D. C., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Freeman L. Hurd, of Washington, D. C., for the Intervenor.
Mr. Jerome A. Reiner, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Detroit,
Michigan , on May 15, 1947 , before Jerome H. Brooks , hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. TIIE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
King Trendle Broadcasting Corporation,' a Michigan corporation
located at Detroit, Michigan, owns and operates a radio station with
the call letters WXYZ under license of the Federal Communications
Commission. It also holds a television construction permit and a
conditional frequency modulation grant for Detroit, Michigan, as well
as a license from the Federal Communications Commission to operate
radio Station WOOD in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The corporate
stock of King is wholly owned by the American Broadcasting Com
party, Inc.2 In excess of 20 percent of the program material of WXYZ
Heicin called King
s Herein called ABC.
74 N. L. R. B., No. 146.
926
KING TRENDLE BROADCASTING CORP013ATION 90-7
is received by wire from the national network of ABC. Of the pro-
grams originating locally, in excess of 10 percent consists of broad-
casts of transcriptions recorded on platters which are received by
117XYZ from points outside the State of Michigan. Most of the net-
work programs originate in New York City, Hollywood, and Chicago.
During the year 1946, the gross revenue of King was in excess of
200,000 of which approximately 15 percent was derived from fees
for broadcasting programs wired in from States other than the State
cif Michigan. WXYZ broadcasts are heard in at_least seven counties
in the State of Ohio and in at least three counties in the Province of
Ontario, Canada, in addition to those in the State of Michigan.
The American Broadcasting Company, Inc., a Delaware corporation,
owns and operates Station WJZ in New York, Station KGO ii] San
Francisco, Station WENR in Chicago, and Station KECA in Los
Angeles. In May 1946 ABC had 202 network affiliates comprising
radio stations located throughout the United States, to which ABC
sends by wire, program material which is then transmitted over the air
by the affiliated radio stations. ABC owns and controls all the cor-
porate stock of King; and substantially the same persons are officers
and Members of the Board of Directors of both King and ABC. The
record further reveals that unusual expenditures for technical equip-
ment at WZYZ require prior authorization by the chief engineer at
ABC and that the final decision on important technical problems of the
engineering department at WZYZ are required to be made by ABC's
chief engineer . In view of the ownership by ABC of all of the cor-
porate stock of King, the similarity of corporate officers between ABC
and King, and the control by ABC over King we find that American
Broadcasting Company,. inc., and King Trendle Broadcasting Cor-
poration, are the Employers of the employees involved herein within
the meaning of Section 2 (2) of the Act.3
Both King and ABC admit and we find that each is engaged in com-
merce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. TIlE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, herein called the
Intervenor, is a labor organization claiming to represent employees
of the Employer.
3 Matter of Chrysler Detroit Company , 38 N L R B 313
755420-48-vol. 74-60
928 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Both King and ABC refuse to recognize the Petitioner as the exclu-
sive bargaining representative of their employees at Station WXYZ
until the Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate
,unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employers at radio Station
WXYZ within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and
,(7) of the Act.
IV. TI-1h APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all technical employees in the engi-
neering department at WXYZ and requests that they be included in a
.contract unit of technical employees of.all the stations owned and
operated by ABC. Although the Intervenor, King, and ABC are in
general agreement with the composition of the proposed unit, they
contend that the unit should be limited to the employees at WXYZ.
On May 7, 1947, the Petitioner and ABC entered into a contract
,covering a unit of all stations owned and operated by ABC. This con-
tract did not cover Station WXYZ. On the same date the Petitioner
advised ABC that in signing that contract it did not thereby waive
any of its rights to ask that the technical employees at WXYZ be
included in this unit at some future time.
However, the record also shows that since 1941 the Intervenor and
King have negotiated several contracts limited to the technical em-
ployees at WXYZ 4 and that there is no interchange of employees of
King and the other employees in question. Under all the circumstances
herein, including geographical separation of the stations covered by
the contract and WXYZ, we will limit the appropriate unit to the
.employees of WXYZ.°
The parties disagree as to the inclusion of the chief engineer, who
has been included in the contract unit established by King and the
Intervenor. The chief engineer has authority to hire and discharge
and to discipline employees. We find that the chief engineer is a
supervisory employee and, accordingly, we shall exclude him` from the
-Knit.
4 There were five contracts in all , the first was executed May 12, 1941, and this was
followed by four supplemental agreements thereto dated as follows August 5, 1941 ; July
22, 1942 , July 12, 1945, and April 30,,1946?
a This does not mean , however , that if a majority of the technical employees at King
select the Petitioner as their bargaining representative, that the parties may not consoli-
date the unit herein found appiopiiate with that of the technical employees covered by the
contract between ABC and the Petitioner . See Matter of John, Deere Harvester Works,
X66 N L R B. 1078 , 1080-1081.
KING TRENDLE BROADCASTING CORPORATION 929
We find that all technical employees in the engineering department
of Station WXYZ employed by the Employers but excluding all office
.and clerical employees, the chief engineer, and all other supervisory
.employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION s
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with King Trendle Broadcasting
,Corporation, Detroit, Michigan, and American Broadcasting Com-
pany, Inc., New York City, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
-ducted 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 Seventh Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sec-
tions 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appro-
priate 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 temporarily laid off, and including employees
in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in
person at the polls, 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, to determine whether they desire to be
represented by National Association of Broadcast Engineers and
Technicians, or by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
Ci 1 AIRMAN Hriizoo took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
6 Any participant in the election herein may , upon its prompt request to and approval
thereof by the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.