The Fort Industry Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 30, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 1579 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of THE FORT INDUSTRY COMPANY, EMPLOYER and ELEC-
TRICAL WORKERS' LOCAL UNION No. 349, IBEW, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 10-RC-715.Decided December 30, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Clarence D.
Musser, 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 employees engaged in
the operation and maintenance of technical equipment at the Em-
ployer's Radio Stations WGBS and WGBS-FM,2 located in Miami,
Florida. The actual composition of the unit sought was agreed upon
by the parties, but they are in disagreement with respect to the man-
ner in which the unit should be described .3
I American Federation of Radio Artists, AFT., which has been certified as bargaining
representative for certain employees of the Employer not herein involved, was permitted
to intervene, and disaffirmed any interest in the unit sought by the Petitioner.
2 At the hearing; the Petitioner amended its petition by adding the words "and Station
WGBS-FM."
3 The Petitioner requests a unit of "all employees engaged in the operation and main-
tenance of all technical equipment, including transmitter, control boards, and cutting
and/or recording of all types of transcriptions." The Employer contends that the unit
should be described as, "all employees performing functions required by the rules of the
Federal Communications Commission to be performed by holders of licenses issued by the
Federal Communications Commission as first class radio telephone operators."
87 NLRB No. 156.
1579
1580 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer objects to the Petitioner's unit description because
the Employer anticipates that its announcers in the future will at
times operate control room equipment, and that they will then improp-
erly come within the scope of the unit. It appears, however, that
the Employer's announcers have been bargained for in the past, in
a separate unit, by the Intervenor, and that whatever operation of
control room equipment they might perform will be incidental to their
announcing duties.4 We have already held that a unit of the type
sought herein is appropriate.-' The definition proposed by the Em-
ployer disregards factors which we consistently have found to be
determinative with respect to appropriateness of unit, and attempts
to make the licensing of employees the sole criterion. While licensing
of technical employees is a factor to be considered, it is by no means
the only one. Therefore, we are unable to accept the Employer's unit
description, since it is not in accordance with Board policy.
We find that all radio technicians of the Employer's Radio Sta-
tions WGBS and WGBS-FM, located at Miami, Florida, engaged
in the operation and maintenance of technical equipment, including
transmitter, control boards, and cutting and recording of all types of
transcriptions, including regular part-time employees, but excluding
office and clerical employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in
the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for collective bargaining pur-
poses within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act .o
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses 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 supervision
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 dur-
ing the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direc-
tion of Election, including employees who did not work during said
pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
4 Cf. Trendle -Campbell Broadcasting Corporation , 7-RC-509 ( unpublished ) ; Supple-
mental Decision ( issued November 3, 1949 ), 86 NLRB 1240 ; Second Supplemental
Decision ( issued November 22, 1949 ), unpublished.
G Great Trails Broadcasting Company, 73 NLRB 396.
6 We do , not interpret the unit description as including announcers , even though in the
future they might operate control room equipment, so long as the majority of their work-
time is spent in the performance of their announcing function.
THE' FORT INDUSTRY COMPANY 1581
laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the
date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are
not entitlea to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire
to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Electrical
Workers' Local Union No. 349, IBEW, AFL.