Paramount Pictures, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 19, 1943

47 N.L.R.B. 737 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of PARAMOUNT PICTURES, INC., FAMOUS MUSIC CORPORA-
TION AND PARAMOUNT MUSIC CORPORATION and SCREEN OFFICE &
PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES GUILD, LOCAL 109, UOP`VA (C. I. O)
Case No. R-4228
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
AND a
ORDER
February 19,1943
On October 29, 1942, the National Labor Relations Board issued a
Decision and Direction' of Elections in the above-entitled proceeding.,
Pursuant to the Direction of Elections, five separate elections by secret
ballot were conducted on November 23, 1942, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Second Region (New
York City). On November 24, 1942, the Regional Director, acting
pursuant to Article III, Section 10, of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, issued an Election Re-
port, copies of which were duly served upon the parties.
As to the balloting and its results; the Regional Director reported
as follows :
Unit Number 1. Office employees at the Home Office
Total on eligibility list -------------------------------------- 377
Total ballots cast-------------------------------------------- 346
Total ballots challenged ------------------------------------- 1
Total blank ballots------------------------------------------ 2
Total void ballots------------------------------------------- 0
Total valid votes counted ----------- -------------------------
Votes cast for Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild,
343
Local 109, UOPWA, C. I 0-------------------------------- 233
Votes cast for no Union------------------------------------- 110
Unit Number 2. Office employees at the Exchange Office
Total on eligibility list----------------------------- ---------- 29
Total ballots cast-------------------------------------------- 25
Total ballots challenged------------------------------------- 0
145 N L. R. B. 116.
47 N. L. R. B., No. 97.
513024-43-vol. 47-47 737
738 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Total blank ballots------------------------------------------ 0
Total void ballots------------------------------------------- '0
Total valid votes counted____________________________________ 25
Votes cast for Screen Office & Professional Employees, Guild,
Local 109, UOPWA, C. I. 0-------------------------------- 7
Votes cast for International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage
Employees Local F-51, A. F. L____________________________ 17
Votes cast for Neither--------------------------------------- I
Unit Number 3 Office employees at the News Office
Total on eligibility list-------------------------------------- 18
Total ballots cast------------------------------------------- 18
Total ballots challenged_____________________________________ 0
Total blank ballots------------------------------------------ 0
Total void ballots ------------ •------------------------------- 0
Total valid votes counted____________________________________ 18
Votes cast for Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild,
Local 109, UOPWA, C. I. 0-------------------------------- 6
Votes cast for No Union------------------------------------- 12
Unit Number 4. Office employees at the Music Companies' Office
Total on eligibility list--------------------------------------- 16
Total ballots cast------------------------------------------- 11
Total ballots challenged------------------------------------- 0
Total blank ballots----------------------------------------- 0
Total void ballots-------------------------------=----------- 0
Votes cast for Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild,
Local 109, UOPWA, C. I. 0-------------------------------- 9
Votes cast for No Union------------------------------------- 2
Unit Number 5 Porters, watchmen, and matron at the Home Office
Total on eligibility list--------------------------------------- 12
Total ballots cast------------------------------------------- 9
Total ballots challenged------------------------------------- 0
Total blaiik ballots----------------------------------------- 0
Total void ballots------------------------------------------- 0
Total valid votes counted____________________________________ 9
Votes cast for Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild, -
Local 109, UOPWA, C. I. O_________________________________ 8
Votes cast for No Union_____________________________________ 1
No objections to the conduct of the ballots or to the Election Report
have been filed by any of the parties with respect to,the elections held in
Units Number 1, Number 4, and Number 5 (respectively the unit of
office employees at the Home,Office, the unit of office employees at the
Music Companies' Office, and the unit of porters, watchmen, and matron
-at the Home Office).- -
On November 30, 1942, the-Guild filed with the Regional Director
its objections to the Election Report, raising certain issues as to the
elections held in Unit Number 2, the unit of office employees at the
Exchange Office, and Unit Number 3, the unit of office employees at
PARAMOUNT PICTURES, INC. 739
the News Office. The objections with respect to the election conducted
i;'i Unit Number 2 are substantially similar to allegations contained in
a charge,ancl a first amended charge against Paramount Pictures, Inc.,
herein called the Company, filed by the Guild on December 15, 1942,
and January 19, 1943, respectively -2 Pending investigation and-dispo-
sition of these charges, we shall postpone'passing on the Guild's objec-
tions with respect to the election conducted in Unit Number 2.
With respect to the election conducted in Unit Number 3, the unit
of office employees at the News Office, the Guild's objections allege :
(1) that on November 20, 1942, just prior to the election, the president
of the Company wrote the employees a letter stating in part that "the
law does not compel any employee to join a union," noting the possi-
bility of 'the negotiation of a contract containing a maintenance-of-,
membership clause between the Company and the Guild in the, event
that the Guild was designated as bargaining agent by the employees,
and explaining the effect of such a maintenance-of-membership clause;
(2) "that on or about November 13, 1942, the Company gave written
notice to each of the employees in Unit Number 3 of "a new method of
payment of bonuses" and of the Company's "intention to apply to the
War Labor Board with respect to the compensation of its employees,"
without mentioning the Guild or the Company's obligation "to deter-
mine the terms and conditions of employment of its employees through
negotiations with the collective bargaining agent to be chosen at
the . . . election"; and (3) that the Company interfered with, re-
strained, and coerced its employees "in the exercise of the right to
self organization and to bargain collectively through representatives of
their own choosing, during'the period prior to and of said election."
' On January 20, 1943, the Regional Director issued his Report on
Objections, copies of which were duly served on the parties. He
found that the Guild had made "no specific allegations" in support of
its objection that the Company had interfered with, restrainedi and
coerced its employees; that, with respect to the Company's bonus
notice of November 13, 1942, `'there'is no connection between the Com-
pany's bonus policy 'and the matter of the elections in the various
units"; but that the letter of November 20, 1942, from the Company's
president to its employees "served the purpose for which it was in-
tended, in influencing the employees' votes against the [Guild] in the
News unit 3." '
We agree with the Regional Director that the Guild's objections
with respect to, the alleged ,interference, -restraint, and coercion and
with respect to the'bonus notice of November 13, 1942, raise no sub-
stantial or, ma,terial„issue,,with respect to the. cc,nduct of the ballot.
2Matter of Paramount Pictures, Inc. and Screen Office ct P>ofessional Employees Guild,
Local 109 , ITOPTVA (0. 1. 0 ), Case No. II-C-4996.
740 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The objection based on the alleged interference, restraint, and coer-
cion makes no specific allegations and is not supported by affidavit or
otherwise 8 The Company's notice of November 13, 1942, was the fifth
of a series of notices issued by the Company to its employees on and
after December 18, 1941, in connection with its policy of giving em-
ployees a cost-of-living bonus; it announced no change in the amount
of the bonus or in the method of its computation, but merely placed
the payment of the bonus on a weekly rather than a quarterly basis.
The Company, in its notice of November 13, 1942, also stated its in-
tention to apply to the War Labor Board for additional pay increases
for a few of its employees whose salaries had not been raised as much
as others, but there is nothing in the context in which the notice of
November 13 was sent which indicates that it was intended or could
reasonably be expected to affect the employees' adherence to the Guild.
Furthermore, it does not appear nor-does the Guild in its objections
even allege that any of the apparently small number of employees
affected by the Company's announced intention to apply to the War
Labor Board for additional increases are within the News Office unit.
While the notice of November 13, as the Guild points out, did not,
mention the Guild, none of the Company's preceding notices as to
its bonus system had mentioned any labor organization. , The Guild's
objections based on the notice of November 13, 1942, and on the alleged
interference, restraint, and coercion are hereby overruled.
We do not agree with the Regional Director's finding that the
letter of November 20, 1942, from the Company's president to its em-
ployees affected the votes cast by employees in the News Office unit in
the election held on November 23, 1942. The letter was issued after
distribution of a circular by the Guild among the employees and in
response to a charge ine the circular that the Company was not inter-
ested in helping its employees increase their contribution to the
nation's war effort.` The letter is not on its face coercive; on the con-
trary, itspecifically reassured employees of their right to vote freely
in the election, and it indicated a willingness on the part of the Com-
pany to bargain and to enter into a contract with the Guild if it were,
designated the bargaining representative of the employees. We are
not persuaded that the circumstances in which the letter was sent
made it coercive-in effect; indeed, although copies of the letter were,
sent to employees at the Home Office and to employees of the Music
8 Cf Matter of Thompson Products , Inc and International Union, United Automobile
Workers of America, C. I. 0., 43 N. L R B 1379 ; Matter of La Plant-Choate Manufacturing
Co , Inc. and United Farm Equipment Workers Organizing Committee, Local 116, C. 1. 0.,
15 N. L. R . B. 485.
A Cf. Matter of The Yoder Company and United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of
America , Local ##735 ( C. I. 0.), 47 N . L R. B, No. 75.
11
PARAMOUNT PICTURES, INC. 741
Companies, it does not appear and it is not claimed that their votes
in the election were thereby in any way affected. We find that the
Guild's objection based on the letter of November 20, 1942, from the
Company's president to its employees raises no substantial or material
issue with respect to the conduct of the ballot. The objection is
hereby overruled.
We shall certify the collective bargaining representatives selected
by, the employees in the elections held in Units Number 1, Number 4,
and Number 5, as to which no objections have been filed. The results
of the election among the employees in Unit Number 3, the office
employees at the News Office, show that no collective bargaining repre-
sentative has been selected by a majority of the employees in that unit.
We shall, therefore dismiss the Guild's petition for investigation ,and
certification of representatives, insofar as it relates to employees in
Unit Number 3.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National.L_bor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 9 and 10, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as
amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERZIF ED that Screen Office & Professional Employees
Guild, Local 109, UOPWA (C. I.0.), has been designated and selected
by. a majority of- all, office, clerical, secretarial, and accounting
employees, and salaried readers at the Home Office of Paramount
Pictures, Inc., in New York City, excluding executives, officers, dis-
trict managers, traveling auditors, lawyers, engineers, film examiners,
film shippers, film handlers, and supervisory and confidential em-
ployees, as their representative for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of he Act, Screen Office
& Professional Employees Guild, Local 109, UOPWA.(C. I. 0.), is
the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes
of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours
of employment, and other conditions of employment.
IT IS HEBEBY-OERTIFIED that Screen Office & Professional Employees
Guild, Local 109, UOPWA (C. I.0.), has been designated and selected
by a majority of all office, clerical, secretarial, and accounting em-
ployees at the office of Famous Music Corporation and Paramount
Music Corporation in New York City, excluding executives, officers,
district managers, traveling auditors, lawyers, engineers; film exam-
iners, film shippers, and film handlers, as their representative for the
purposes of collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a)
0
742 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of the Act, Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild, Local 109,
UOPWA (C. I. 0.), is the exclusive representative of all such em-
ployees for the purposes of collective bargaining with respect to rates
of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of
employment. I
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Screen Office & Professional Employ-
ees Guild, Local 109, UOPWA (C. I. 0.), has been designated and
selected by a majority of the porters, -watchmen, and matron em-
ployed at the Home Office Paramount Pictures, Inc. in New York
City, excluding the head porter, as their representative for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of
the Act, Screen Office & Professional Employees Guild, Local 109,
UOPWA (C. I. 0.), is the exclusive representative of all such em-
ployees for the purposes of collective bargaining with respect to rates
of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of
employment.
ORDER
By virtue of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 9 and 10, of Na-
tional Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as
amended,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certifi-
cation of representatives of employees of Paramount Pictures, Inc.,
Famous Music Corporation and Paramount Music Corporation, New
York City, filed by Screen Office &'Professional Employees Guild,
Local 109, JUOPWA (C. I. 0.), insofar as it relates to employees in
Unit Number 3 at the News Office, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.