Radio Station KHQ and KHQ-TV

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 7, 1955

111 N.L.R.B. 874 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

874 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Appendix B
NOTICE TO ALL EMPLOYEES
Pursuant to the recommendations of a Trial Examiner of the National Labor Re-
lations Board, and in order to effectuate the policies of the National Labor Relations
Act, as amended, we hereby notify our employees that:
WE WILL offer Lowell Hall, Marlin Taylor, Joseph Pieha, Edward Salisbury,
and James Bellendir each immediate reinstatement to his former or substan-
tially equivalent position without prejudice to any seniority or other rights and
privileges previously enjoyed and will make him whole for any loss of pay suf-
fered as the result of the discrimination against him.
WE WILL NOT in any manner interfere with, restrain, or coerce our employees
in the exercise of their right to self-organization, to form labor organizations,
join or assist Die and Tool Makers Lodge No. 113, International Association
of Machinists, AFL, or any other labor organization, to bargain collectively
through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in concerted ac-
tivity for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection,
or to refrain from any or all such activities except to the extent that such right
may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization
as a condition of employment as authorized in Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act.
PEERLESS TOOL AND ENGINEERING CO.,
Employer.
Dated---------------- By----------------------------------------------
(Representative) (Title)
This notice must remain posted for 60 days from the date hereof, and must not be
altered, defaced, or covered by any other material.
RADIO STATION KHQ AND KHQ-TV, PETITIONER and AMERICAN FED-
ERATION OF TELEVISION AND RADIO ARTISTS (AFL). Case No. 19-
ISM-110. March 7,1955
Decision and Order Amending Certification
On July 28, 1954, pursuant to stipulation for certification upon con-
sent election, and an election held on July 20, 1954, the Board issued
a certification of representatives in the above-entitled proceeding in
which American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFL),
herein called AFTRA, was certified as the exclusive bargaining repre-
sentative in an appropriate unit of certain employees of the Employer.
Thereafter, on December 3, 1954, AFTRA filed "Motion To Show
Cause Why The Unit As Certified Should Not Be Amended To De-
scribe More Specifically Services Performed By Staff Announcers."
On December 31, 1954, the Employer filed a statement of position in
response to said motion. On January 12, 1955, Local 77, International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, A. F. of L., herein called the
IBEW, filed a motion to intervene herein and a statement opposing
the motion to amend filed by AFTRA, insofar as it "seeks to include
within that unit combination announcer-technicians, commonly re-
ferred to as `combo men' producer-directors and floor men."
On February 1, 1955, the Board granted the IBEW's motion to in-
tervene, and issued notice to show cause "why, pursuant to AFTRA's
111 NLRB No. 146.
RADIO STATION KHQ AND KHQ-TV 875
motion, the certified unit should or should not be amended specifically
to include `combination announcer-technicians' and staff announcers
acting or assisting as producer, director or floor man." On February
10, 1955, the IBEW filed a response to the notice to show cause; the
Employer and AFTRA filed no response. The IBEW in its response
did not dispute the facts asserted in AFTRA's motion; nor did the
Employer in its statement of position earlier filed with the Board.
We find no merit in the IBEW's contention that the Board has no
authority to amend the unit without giving the parties an opportunity
to present their side of the case at a hearing, even though there exists
no dispute of fact to warrant a hearing. Our use of a show cause pro-
cedure herein was intended to afford the parties full opportunity to
controvert the material facts alleged in AFTRA's motion and to state
their position. These facts not being controverted there is no reason
why the Board should not now rule on the motion to amend the unit.
We believe that this procedure, in the circumstances of this case, is
entirely proper and in conformity with the provisions of the Ad-
ministrative Procedure Act.'
The undisputed facts are as follows : On July 28, 1954, the Board,
on the basis of the stipulation of the parties in the proceeding, certi-
fied as the appropriate unit for bargaining purposes :
All KHQ and KHQ-TV announcers and other employees who
perform regularly over the microphone or before the camera, ex-
cluding musicians who are instrumentalists, news gatherers, all
other employees, and all other persons who may appear before the
camera or microphone incidentally or occasionally, which means
other than regularly, or all persons whose appearance is not in the
regular format of the show, and employees or participants of
clients or advertisers who participate in their own shows, and all
supervisors and guards as defined in the Act.
On September 27, 1954, during the course of collective bargaining
with AFTRA, and with the consent of AFTRA and the IBEW, the
Employer assigned to six of its staff announcers certain functions
which had been previously performed by technicians who were mem-
bers of the IBEW and excluded from the unit represented by AFTRA.
Apart from the six staff announcers, there continued on the Employer's
payroll announcers who perform only announcing work and engi-
neering and technical employees, represented by the IBEW. The ad-
ditional functions performed after September 27, 1954, by the six staff
announcers, now referred to as "combination announcer-technicians,"
consist of "operating studio equipment such as consoles, turntables,
tape recorders and similar routine devices, and making periodic meter
readings." On October 11, 1954, AFTRA and the Employer reached
'See, e g, Jaques Power Saw Co, 85 NLRB 440, 442, and authorities cited therein.
876 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
final agreement on a collective-bargaining contract covering a unit
which specifically included combination announcer-technicians. How-
ever, the contract was not executed in view of claims by the IBEW
that the combination announcer-technicians must become members of
that union. On December 3, 1954, as already noted, AFTRA filed the
motion now before us.
In its motion, AFTRA seeks principally to have the Board amend
the unit certified on July 28, 1954, specifically to include the combina-
tion announcer-technicians. However, at the same time, it requests a
comprehensive redescription of the unit which would also specifically
include in the unit, inter alit, ". . . staff announcers . . . acting or as-
sisting as producer, director or floor man." The IBEW's general ob-
jection is addressed to the inclusion in AFTRA's unit of combination
announcer-technicians, "producer-directors and floor men."
In earlier cases involving television and radio stations, the Board
held that combination announcer-technicians, with duties similar to
those here involved, are not appropriately included in a unit of tech-
nical employees and, in effect, may not appropriately be separated from
other announcers.2 The type of technical work performed by combina-
tion announcer-technicians does not require specialized technical
knowledge or training, and the technical duties they perform are only
incidental to their principal function of announcing, for which they
are specially qualified. Accordingly, we shall grant AFTRA's motion
to amend the certified unit specifically to include combination an-
nouncer-technicians.
It does not appear that since the Board certification there has been
any change in the duties of staff announcers other than that involving
the six combination announcer-technicians. As noted above, AFTRA's
motion also seeks a unit amendment specifically to include staff an-
nouncers acting or assisting producer, director, or floorman. The
IBEW apparently construes AFTRA's motion as requesting the in-
clusion of "producer-directors and floor men," which clearly is not
the case. We believe that staff announcers who perform the incidental
duties of "acting or assisting as producer, director, or floor man," were
embraced within the description of the certified unit of "announcers
and other employees who perform regularly over the microphone or
before the camera." For clarification purposes, Ave so hold.
[The Board ordered that the Certification of Representatives issued
herein to American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFL)
be amended specifically to include in the certified unit combination
announcer-technicians employed at the Employer's Radio Station
KHQ and KHQ-TV, Spokane, Washington.]
3 Radto Station KHMO, 94 NLRB 1416; Florida Broadcasting Corp., 93 NLRB 1568;
Mtiddlesem Broadcasting Corp, 87 NLRB 1567; Radio Station KLEE, 87 NLRB 31.