Philco Televison Service, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 26, 1949

86 N.L.R.B. 899 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of PHILco TELEVISION SERVICE, INC., EMPLOYER and
TELEVISION & RADIO DIVISION, LOCAL 854, INTERNATIONAL BROTHER-
HOOD OF TEAMSTERS, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. O-RC-1364.Decided October 26, 1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Daniel J.
Sullivan, 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
Houston and Gray].
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 employees
of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of installation technicians and
their helpers working in and out of the Employer's Brooklyn, New
York, service branch. The Employer contends that the unit sought is
inappropriate.
The Employer is engaged in the business of installing and servicing
television and other electronic equipment manufactured by the Philco
Corporation. It operates in territory comprising the Metropolitan
District of New York City, the adjacent New York State counties of
Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester, and approximately 75 percent of the
area of the adjoining State of New Jersey. The territory thus cov-
ered embraces an area with a diameter, at its greatest distance, of
approximately 170 miles.
86 N. L. R. B., No. 129.
899
900 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer's central office, central shop, and central parts de-
partment are located at Long Island City, which is within the Met-
ropolitan District of New York City. The Employer conducts its field
operations from six service branches, to each of which is allocated a
segment of the Employer's territory. The facilities of two of such
branches, those servicing areas within the New York City Boroughs
of Manhattan and Queens, are housed at the Employer's central office
location. The four other service branches are situated within the
areas in which they operate. All the service branches are organized
identically, function similarly, render the same kinds of services, and
are staffed by personnel in like job categories.'
The Brooklyn service branch, which the Petitioner has singled out
by its claim, is located in Brooklyn, New York, approximately 8 to 10
miles from the Employer's. central office. To it is assigned the function
of installing television receivers at places located within the Borough
of Brooklyn, servicing receivers in the field after installation, and
repairing them in the branch shop. The branch is headed by a branch
superintendent, and includes a number of supervisory personnel func-
tioning within its three operational departments.
The work of one of'such departments, the field installation depart-
ment, is performed by a number of installation teams, each of which
consists of a technician, classified as Grade 2, and his helper. These
are the employees whom the Petitioner would include iii the unit it is
seeking. The installation technicians, with the. assistance of their
helpers, deliver television receivers to customers' homes in trucks
rented by the Employer, assemble and calibrate the receivers, and
erect and orient their antennae. In addition, they may be called upon
to repair receivers which are defective when delivered. Their duties
require that they be able to use certain test equipment, such as an
oscilloscope, which they carry with them. To qualify as an installa-
tion technician, the Employer generally requires 9 to 18 months' at-
tendance at an accredited television school in which training in theo-
retical electronics is given. In addition, the Employer requires that
.successful applicants attend its own 4-week course of advanced tele-
vision training in Philco products. The installation helpers generally
are individuals who have not yet completed their theoretical training
at an accredited television school, but have acquired, either through
experience or through the medium of partial training, suitable back-
grounds for the job. At the time of the hearing, there were four
installation technicians and four helpers employed at the Brooklyn
service branch.
' The Employer employs a total of approximately 350 persons . Of these , approximately
160 are Grade 2 technicians and helpers engaged in field installation and service work.
PHILCO TELEVISION SERVICE, INC. 901
The work of a related department in the Brooklyn service branch,
the field service department, is performed at the nonsupervisory level
by a number of employees also classified as .Grade 2 technicians. The
Petitioner does not seek to represent the employees of this department.
These employees drive their own vehicles and are reimbursed by the
Employer on a mileage basis; they repair and service customers'• tele-
vision sets after they have been installed. Occasionally, they may be
called upon to substitute for, and perform the work of, the installa-
tion technicians. The service technicians have technical training
similar to that possessed by the installation technicians. They use
the same kinds of testing equipment in their work. Generally, how-
ever, they are the more experienced employees, it being the Employ-
er's practice to transfer technicians to service work after a period
of time spent in the installation department; from there they may be
promoted to supervisory positions. The pay range for installation
and service technicians is the same, with individual variations occur-
ring among both groups. Both the service and installation techni-
cians work the same number of hours each day, and receive like
vacation periods and other employment benefits. At the time of the
hearing, there were 33 nonsupervisory service technicians employed
at the Brooklyn service branch.
In addition to the installation and service technicians, other Grade
2 technicians are employed in the shop at the Brooklyn service branch.
They work on television sets that are brought in by the installation
and service technicians, making elaborate repairs involving the modi-
fication and realignment of receivers, and the revamping of circuits.
The Employer commenced its operations in May 1949. There is no
history of collective bargaining affecting any of its employees.
The unit which the Petitioner seeks is, we find, inappropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining. It is clear that Grade 2 installation
and service technicians at the Brooklyn service branch are equipped
with similar training and backgrounds, possess similar skills, perform
comparable tasks, and work under conditions which are almost iden-
tical. The interests of these employees for bargaining purposes also
appear to be closely allied with those of the Grade 2 technicians who
work in the Brooklyn shop. Under such circumstances, the factor
differentiating the installation technicians from the other technicians,
namely the fact that their work is primarily concerned with the instal-
lation phase of the Employer's business, is not by itself of sufficient im-
portance to warrant their establishment in a separate unit.2
2 See Matter of General Electric Supply Corporation , 83 N. L. R. B. 1135.
867351-50-vol. S6-58
902 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Accordingly, because the composition of the requested unit is inap-
propriate, we shall dismiss the petition .8
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
9In view of our determination that the composition of the requested unit is inappropriate,
we do not pass upon the Employer 's other contention that the requested unit is also inap-
propriate because its scope is limited to employees at the Brooklyn branch.