Middlesex Broadcasting Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 30, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 1567 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of MIDDLESEX BROADCASTING CORPORATION ( RADIO STA-
TION WTAO AND WXHR), EMPLOYER and LOCAL UNION No. 1228,
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL,
PETITIONER
Case No.1-RC-123.-Decided December 30,19499
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Torbert H.
MacDonald, 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations 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. The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all broadcast technicians
and engineers, excluding the chief engineer, announcers, clerical, main-
tenance, and administrative employees, guards, and supervisors, as de-
fined in the Act. The Employer contends that the unit sought by
the Petitioner is inappropriate in that it does not include announcers
and does not exclude engineers.
The Employer's two stations, each consisting of a transmitter and
a studio, are approximately 8 miles apart. The three radio broadcast
technicians, together with the chief and assistant chief engineer, main-
tain, repair, and operate the radio transmitting equipment, take the
necessary meter readings and keep the required radio log. All are re-
quired to be licensed by the Federal Communications Commission.
87 NLRB No. 153.
. 1567.
1568 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The engineers perform the same type of technical duties as those
employees designated as broadcast technicians. The Employer ar-
gues that the term engineer denotes a graduate engineer who performs
professional functions including research and experimentation, and
that it has no employees on its pay roll performing such functions.
Thus, its objection to the inclusion of the classification of engineer in
the unit description is merely one of nomenclature, and does not in-
volve the issue of grouping together professional and nonprofession-
al employees. Inasmuch as the Employer has designated as engineers,
the employees who perform the same technical functions as the radio
technicians, we find that the classification of engineer is properly
included in the unit description in the instant case.
The five announcers are required to perform technical work only
insofar as they control volume, throw the necessary switch from micro-
phone to turntable, and operate the turntable whenever necessary
for any programs on which they are acting as announcers. They do
not perform any of the more complicated technical work requiring
an FCC license and are not under the supervision of the chief engineer,
as are the engineers and technicians. Because the record discloses
that the minor technical duties performed by the announcers are
merely incidental to their primary duties as announcers, we shall,
contrary to the request of the Employer, exclude them from the unit
hereinafter found appropriate.
The Employer, in opposition to the Petitioner, would exclude from
the unit as a supervisor, a technical employee described as the assistant
chief engineer. The Employer claims that the title and supervisory
authority accompanied a raise in pay which was given this employee
approximately 6 months prior to the hearing. However, it appears
that the technical duties of this employee have not changed in any
respect from what they were prior to the receipt of the raise. The
engineer performs the same duties as the three technicians of the
Employer. As a senior employee in point of time, his advice and
guidance are sometimes sought by other employees. While the chief
engineer is absent or on vacation, he, as well as other technicians,
perform additional duties. Although he has never exercised any
supervisory authority, the Employer states that he has the authority
to do so in the absence of the chief engineer. The Employer admits,
however, that it has at no time specifically advised the assistant chief
engineer of his new title and alleged supervisory authority. The evi-
dence, considered as a whole, indicates that this employee has no
supervisory authority. Accordingly, we find that the assistant chief
,engineer is not a supervisor within the meaning of the Act.
"The WPTF Radio Company, 82 NLRB 254; Radio Station FLEE, 87 NLRB 31.
MIDDLESEX BROADCASTING CORPORATION 1569
We find that all broadcast technicians and engineers at the Em-
ployer's two radio stations at Woburn and Cambridge, Massachusetts,
including the assistant chief engineer, but excluding announcers, cleri-
cal, maintenance, and administrative employees, guards, the chief
engineer,2 and all other supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the 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 rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain-
ing, by Local Union No. 1228, International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, AFL.
2 The parties agree, and we find, that the chief engineer is a supervisor within the
meaning of the Act.