Los Angeles Broadcasting Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 6, 1937

4 N.L.R.B. 443 (N.L.R.B. 1937)

In the Matter of Los ANGELES BROADCASTING COMPANY, INC. and
AMERICAN RADIO TELEGRAPHERS ASSOCIATION, BROADCAST LOCAL No. 15
Case No. R-332.-Decided December 6,1937
Radio Broadcasting Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy
concerning representation of employees : refusal by employer to recognize peti-
tioning union as exclusive bargaining agent; controversy as to appropriate
unit-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : established labor organiza-
tions among employees ; occupational differences ; wage differentials-Represen-
tatives: proof of choice : signed petition designating union as collective bar-
gaining representative ; comparison of petition with pay roll-Certification of
Representatives : upon proof ' of majority representation.
Mr. David Persinger, for the Board.
Mr. Garnet C. Rainey, of Los Angeles, Cal., for the Company.
Mr. Ernest Robert, of Los Angeles, Cal., for the Union.
Mr. Henry H. Foster, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On August 3, 1937, American Radio Telegraphers Association,
Broadcast Local No. 15, herein called the Union, filed with the
Regional Director for the Twenty-First Region (Los Angeles, Califor-
nia), a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of Los Angeles Broadcast-
ing Company, Los Angeles, California, herein called the company, and
requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pur-
suant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat.
449, herein called the Act. On September 22, 1937, an amended peti-
tion was filed with the Regional Director. On September 25, 1937,
the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article
III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu-
lations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized
the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice.
On October 6,1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing;
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Union.
443
444
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held at Los Angeles, California,
on October 12, 1937, before Clifford D. O'Brien, the Trial Examiner
duly designated by the Board.
The Board and the Company were represented by counsel, the
Union by its secretary and organizer, and all participated in the
hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine
witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing upon the issues was
afforded to all parties.
eral rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence.
The Board has reviewed these rulings and finds that no prejudicial
errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT ,
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Los Angeles Broadcasting Company, Inc., is a corporation organ-
ized in March 1933 under the laws of the State of California. It
owns and operates radio station KFAC, under license from the Fed-
eral Communications Commission. Technicians employed by the
Company are likewise licensed by the Federal Communications Com-
mission. The station operates with one thousand watts' power over
a designated band of thirteen hundred kilocycles. It is not a part
of any national network, nor does it rebroadcast from any other
station at the present time. Its principal coverage is a radius of
approximately twenty-five miles from its broadcasting station located
in the City of Los Angeles, California, but it is heard in numerous
other states and in several foreign countries, particularly after mid-
night when the large majority of stations cease broadcasting. The
Company owns its own broadcast equipment, which is powered by
electricity, some of which comes across state lines from Boulder Dam,
Arizona.
We find that Los Angeles Broadcasting Company, Inc., is engaged
in traffic, communication, and commerce among the several states
and between the United States and foreign countries, and that the
employees engaged in the operation of the radio station of the
Company are directly engaged in such traffic, communication, and
commerce.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
American Radio Telegraphers Association, Broadcast Local No. 15,
is a labor organization in which employees of the Company are eligi-
ble' for membership. It is a local of American Radio Telegraphers
Association, which in turn is affiliated with the Committee for
Industrial Organization.
During the course of the hearing, the Trial Examiner made sev-
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 445
'III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
As early as July 1937, Ernest T. Roberts, on behalf of the Union,
contacted officials of the Company with the view to bargaining col-
lectively for certain of the employees. In several meetings and tele-
phone calls the Union claimed to be entitled to recognition as the
exclusive representative of these employees. The Company took the
position, however, that, it would recognize and bargain with the
Union as the representative of its members only. It is conceded by
the Company that the Union represents a majority of the office em-
ployees, a majority of the technicians and the janitor. The Company
does not concede that the Union represents a majority of the an-
nouncers. There appears, therefore, to be a dispute as to the
appropriate unit, the Company indicating that its decision
as to recognition will depend upon whether the Union represents
a majority in each of the different classifications of the
Company's employees, and the Union insisting that the designation of
it by a majority of the employees in. a larger unit entitles it to
recognition as exclusive representative of that unit.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Los Angeles Broadcasting Company, Inc., and
that this question tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and
obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company's staff consists of approximately sixty-one ( 61) em-
ployees, classified by the management as follows: 1 General manager,
1; office staff, 5; salesmen, 4; musicians, 11; technicians, 6; announc-
ers, 7; staff talent (regular), 5; special talent, 21; janitor, 1.
Of the foregoing, the musicians and the employees classified as
talent appear from the evidence to be represented by labor organiza-
tions which are affiliated with the A. F. of L. The salesmen work
out of the office. Of these, two work entirely on a commission basis,
while the other two are paid both salary and commission. The sales-
men have their own organization which represents them in collec-
tive bargaining with the Company. Within the Company's classifi-
cation of five office employees is included Charles T. Hughes, the
assistant manager of the Company, whose duties appear, in the main,
to be supervisory. Among the seven people classified as announcers
by the Company is one Robert Swan, chief announcer, who, in addi-
tion to performing the duties of an announcer , directs the apportion-
ment of time and the traffic of other -announcers , and generally super-
vises their work.' Another of those classified as announcers by the
Company is one Mel Roach, whose exclusive duty is to announce one
1 Respondent 's Exhibit No. 1, being the pay roll for the month of September 1937.
446 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
thirty-minute program daily pursuant to a special contract with a
sponsor. He also has other employment elsewhere.
The Union does not purport to represent the musicians and talent,
who are paid on a weekly basis as distinguished from the bi-monthly
basis existing for the rest of the employees, because of their repre-
sentation by the American Federation of Labor unions. The Union
likewise-does not purport to represent the salesmen, who have an
organization of their own.
In view of all these facts, we find that the employees engaged as
office, staff (excluding the general manager aiid assistant manager),
technicians, janitor, and announcers (excluding the chief announcer
and special program announcer), constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure
to the employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to
self-organization and to collective bargaining, and otherwise effectu-
ate the policies of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
Within the above described unit, on the basis of the September pay
roll, there appear to be sixteen employees. The Union presented a
petition designating itself as representative for collective bargaining
signed by thirteen employees within the said unit.2 No challenge of
these signatures was made by the Company. The Union also placed
in evidence an application, signed by another of the employees within
the above described unit, designating it as the representative, of the
applicant for the purposes of collective bargaining. It was also con-
tended by the Union representative that the Union represented one
other employee in the above described unit, but no authorization or
certification for said employee was introduced into evidence. The
evidence that the Union represented fourteen out of the sixteen em-
ployees in the above described unit was undisputed.
We find that the Union has been designated and selected by a
majority of the employees of Los Angeles Broadcasting Company,
Inc., in an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining
as found above. The Union, therefore, by virtue of Section 9 (a)
of the Act, is the exclusive representative of all such employees for
the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to wages, rates of pay,
hours of employment and other conditions of employment.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following conclusions of law :
2 Union's Exhibit No. 2.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 447
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Los Angeles Broadcasting Company, Inc..
within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The employees of the Company engaged as office staff (exclud-
ing the general manager and assistant manager), technicians, jani-
tor, and announcers (excluding the chief announcer and the special
program announcer), constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that American Radio Telegraphers Associa-
tion, Broadcast Local No. 15, has been designated and 'selected by a
majority of the employees of Los Angeles Broadcasting Company,
Los Angeles; California, engaged as office staff (excluding the office
manager and assistant manager), technicians, janitor, and announ-
cers (excluding the chief announcer and special program announcer),
as their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining and
that, pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the National
Labor Relations Act, American Radio Telegraphers Association,
Broadcast Local No. 15, is the exclusive representative of all such
employees for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates
of pay, wages, hours of employment and other conditions of employ-
ment.