Sargoy & Stein

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 29, 1951

92 N.L.R.B. 1693 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

In the Matter of EDWARD A. SARGOY AND JOSEPH L. STEIN, DOING
BUSINESS AS SARGOY & STEIN, EMPLOYER and CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL
ORGANIZATIONS, PETITIONER
Case No. 2-RC-2310-.-Decided January 29,1951
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before I. L. Broadwin,
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 [Members Houston, Reynolds, and
Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is a partnership with offices in New York City,
where it is engaged in providing specialized investigating and audit-
ing services to eight motion picture distributors,' who are engaged,
on a Nation-wide basis, in the licensing and distribution of prints of
motion pictures to local theater exhibitors. Although the Employer
is organized as a law firm, its time and facilities are almost exclusively
devoted to investigations and related services for the distributors.
In the main the investigation service consists of checking on the
accuracy of receipts and attendance reports made by the exhibitors
to the distributors for the purpose of disclosing fraudulent repre-
sentations which affect the income of the distributors. The record
indicates that whatever legal action is taken following such investi-
gations, including representation in courts, is handled by the general
counsel of the distributors.
During 1949 the Employer conducted 10,509 investigations in about
1,500 theaters, 85 percent of which was located outside the State of
New York. For this service the Employer received in excess of
$50,000 from each of 5 of the 8 distributors, and in excess of $20,000
I These include : Columbia Pictures Corporation ; Paramount Film Distributing Cor-
poration ; RKO Radio Pictures , Inc. ; Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation ; Loews,
Incorporated ; Universal Film Exchanges , Inc. ; Warner Bros . Pictures Distributing Cor.
poration ; and United Artists Corporation.
92 NLRB No. 249.
1693
1694 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
from each of the remaining 3. More than $25,000 was received for
investigations conducted outside the State of New York.
On the facts stated above we find that the Employer is engaged
in operations which affect commerce within the meaning of the Act.
Moreover, because the Employer performs out-of-State services valued
in excess of $25,000 per year,2 and because it furnishes services , valued
in excess of $50,000 per year, necessary to the operation of firms over
whom the Board would assert jurisdiction ,3 we find that it will effec-
tuate the policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction in this case.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. The question concerning representation :
Since May 1947 the Employer has had collective bargaining agree
-ments with Screen Office and Professional Employees Guild, Local
109, United Office and Professional Workers of America, CIO (here-
inafter called Local 109), the predecessor of the Intervenor, herein,
Local 20, Screen Employees Guild & UOPWA, DPOWA. The most
recent contract was executed on October 21, 1949, and will expire
October 20, 1951. This contract contains a general maintenance-of-
membership clause, and a union-shop clause applicable to certain em-
ployees. As the negotiation of these union-security provisions has
not been authorized by a union-shop election ,4 we find, contrary to
the Intervenor's contention, that, apart from any other considerations,
the contract cannot operate as a bar.'
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) :,nd Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit:
The parties agree generally as to the appropriateness of a unit
limited to the Employer's clerical employees. However, the Employer
would exclude the following named employees because of the alleged
confidential nature of their work : Mary Azzarello, Jean Erdley, Hilda
Lillienstein, and Ruth Zahor. The Petitioner would include them in
the unit.
With respect to Mary Azzarello and Jean Erdley, the record shows
that they are secretaries to a Mr. Blau, an attorney in the employ
of the Employer. Although Mr. Blau may on occasion be consulted
on labor relations matters, it appears that such consultation is mainly
to develop facts or proposals for the benefit of management nego-
Stanislaus Implement and Hardward Company, Limited , 91 NLRB 618.
Hollow Tree Lusn.ber Company, 91 NLRB 635.
4 A petition by the contracting union for a union -shop referendum was filed , on February
28, 1949, and withdrawn on April 11, 1949.
C. Hager d Sons Hinge Manufacturing Company, 80 NLRB 163 ; Arrow Mill Company,
92 NLRB No. 166. -
i
SARGOY & STEIN 1695
tiators. We are satisfied that whatever labor relations work Blau
may do is not managerial in character, and we therefore find that
Azzarello and Erdley are not confidential employees as the Board
has defined that term 6
As to Hilda Lillienstein and Ruth Zahor, however, the record re-
veals that these employees act as secretaries to the partners Sargoy
and Stein, who have negotiated collective bargaining agreements and
handled grievances on behalf of the Employer. As they act in a
confidential capacity to persons directly concerned with labor rela-
tions we shall exclude Lillienstein and Zahor as confidential employees.
We find that all clerical and secretarial employees,' excluding field
auditors, confidential and professional employees, and 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.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
See Minneapolis-Molinc Company, 85 NLRB 597.
4 The parties stipulated that the specific classification included in the unit are those
which are designated in the current contract between the Employer and Local 109.