United Scenic Artists, Local 350 Brotherhood Of Painters And Allied Trades, Afl-Cio

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 24, 1985

276 N.L.R.B. 328 (N.L.R.B. 1985)

• 328 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
United Scenic Artists, Local 350 Brotherhood` of
Painters and Allied. Trades , AFL-CIO and Cel-
lomatic Productions . Corporation and National
Broadcasting Company , Inc. (WMAQ-TV) and
Local 41 , National Association of Broadcast.
Employees and :Technicians , AFL-CIO and
Theatrical Stage Employees Local No. 2, Inter-
national Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees;
and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the
United States and Canada . Cases 13-CD-313
and 13-CD-314
24 September. 1985
DECISION AND DETERMINATION OF
DISPUTE '
BY CHAIRMAN DOTSON AND MEMBERS
DENNIS AND JOHANSEN - -
The first charge, Case 13-CD-313, in this Sec-
tion 10(K) proceeding was filed 6 April 1982 by
Cellomatic Productions Corporation (Cellomatic)
alleging that United Scenic Artists, Local 350,
Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, AFL-
CIO (Artist Local 350) violated Section 8(b)(4)(D)
of the National Labor Relations Act by engaging
in proscribed activity with an object of forcing
Cellomatic and National Broadcasting Company,
Inc., WMAQ-TV (NBC) to assign certain work to
employees it represents rather than to employees
represented by Local 41, National Association of
Broadcast Employees and Technicians, AFL-CIO
(NABET Local 41) or Theatrical Stage Employees
Local No. 2, International Alliance of Theatrical
Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine
Operators of the United States and Canada (Stage
Employees Local 2). The second charge, Case 13-
CD-314, was filed 5 April 1982 by NBC alleging
that Artist Local 350 violated Section 8(b)(4)(D) of
the Act by engaging in proscribed activity with an
object of forcing the assignment of certain work to
employees it represents rather than to employees
represented by NABET Local 41 or Stage Em-
ployees Local 2. The cases were consolidated 15
April 1982. The hearings were held 10 May 1982;
11 and 25 June 1982 ; 18 and 20 August 1982; 8, 9,
and 23 November 1982; 13, 21, and 22 December
1982; 3, 4, and 5 January 1983; and 1 and 2 March
1983 before Hearing Officer Linda McCormick.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegat-
ed its authority in this proceeding to a three-
member panel
The Board affirms the hearing officer 's rulings,
finding them free from prejudicial error. On the
entire record, the Board makes the following find-
ings.
276 NLRB No. 33
1. JURISDICTION
National Broadcasting Company, Inc. is a. broad-
casting company which owns. and,operates .televi-
sion stations : WMAQ-TV in Chicago; WNBC-TV
in New York; WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.;
WKYC-TV in Cleveland; and KNBC-TV in Los
Angeles. Additionally, it provides programming for
numerous affiliates. NBC, a Delaware corporation
with an office located in Chicago, Illinois, does a
gross volume of business in excess of $250,000 per
year and purchases and receives goods and materi-
als in excess of $50,000 from points outside the
State of Illinois.
Cellomatic Productions Corporation, ' a New
York corporation with offices located in New York
City, New York; Burbank, California; and Chicago,
Illinois , does a gross volume of business in excess
of $500,000 and both provides services in excess of
$50,000 and purchases goods in excess of $50,000
to and from points- outside the State of New York.
We find that NBC and Cellomatic are engaged
in commerce within the meaning of Section 2(6)
and (7) of the Act and that- Artists Local 350,
NABET Local 41, and Stage Employees Local 2
are labor organizations within the meaning of Sec-
tion 2(5) of the Act.
H. THE DISPUTE
A. Background and Facts of Dispute
Cellomatic, pursuant to contractual agreements,
with NBC spanning 10 years, creates the graphics
for use in NBC's news programs broadcast in- Chi-
cago. For this purpose, Cellomatic employs 10 in-
dividuals who work in offices located on the NBC
premises. NBC employs stagehands, engineers, and
cameramen for its news operation.
Prior to August 1981 the news graphics- were
provided for broadcasts by use of a cellomatic ma-
chine. The cellomatic machine, similar to a slide
projector, projects a 4-by-5 inch slide' onto a rear.
screen. This screen image is photographed by a tel-
evision camera located in front of the screen and
displayed on live news broadcasts.
The slides were produced by Cellomatic artists
and photographers represented by Artist Local
350. Cellomatic stagehands represented -by Stage
Employees Local 2 placed the slides on the ma-
chine and projected them on the screen in order of
receipt. The screen image was then televised by
means of a video camera and electronic broadcast
equipment operated by NABET Local 41 'engi-
neers. The Cellomatic stagehands removed the
' Also referred to as transparency or cell
276 NLRB ' No. 33
PAINTERS LOCAL 350 (CELLOMATIC PRODUCTIONS)
slides and returned them to the Cellomatic office
subsequent to the news broadcast.
In August 1981 NBC completed construction of
an electronic graphics room designed to replace
the cellomatic projector with a more advanced
system based on computer technology. Broadcast
videos could be stored on an electronic still store
device (ESS). The station's capacity to produce
graphics was quantitatively and qualitatively in-
creased by combining the "ESS with traditional..
video and switching equipment.
The newsroom contains the ESS, an Oxberry
Animation Stand, a video camera, a Chyron Four
Character Generator, a Grass Valley 1600 Switch-
er, and other electronic devices for the creation,-
storage, recall, and transmission of news graphics.
The Chyron is used to add letters, numbers, bor-
ders, or other characters to electronically created
graphics, thereby readying them for recording and
storage. The Chyron, a memory computer, is oper-
ated and maintained by NBC employees represent-
ed by NABET Local 41 pursuant to the NBC-
NABET agreement. 'TV monitors housed therein
are operated exclusively by NABET Local 41
members. The Grass Valley Switcher, which elec-
tronically mixes various elements of an electronic
grapher and can be used to create colors and bor-
ders to frame the graphics, is operated by NABET
Local 41 personnel. The ESS, which 'is used to
store graphics, is also operated by NABET Local
41 employees.
Also contained in the new electronics graphics
room is the Oxberry Animation Stand, the source
of the instant dispute. It consists of a table and sev-
eral lights. The table is about 3 feet high with a
movable glass surface (operated by cranks) under
which artwork is placed. Beneath the table is a
light source with alterable color.
The lights are operated by NABET Local 41
employees. The disputed work is the placement of
graphics under the glass sheet and the operation of
the cranks which is being performed by the Cello-
matic artists represented by Artist Local 350..
Lights on the sides of the Oxberry Stand provide
lighting for the video camera mounted atop the
stand. NABET Local 41 employees operate both
the lights and the camera. The camera transfers the
graphics placed on the stand into the electronic,
system and modifies it.
Both Employers concluded, at the end of 1980,
that the' new graphics operation would function at
its optimum with the assignment of the broadcast
engineers to operate the electronic equipment and
the artists to place artwork on the Oxberry Stand
and to operate its controls and lights. Therefore,
NBC formally notified NABET Local 41 on 5 De=
329
cember 1980 that it planned to introduce an elec-
tronic still store device for use in its graphics oper-
ation associated with news programming. Several
meetings between NBC and NABET Local 41
were held- relevant thereto, but no agreement was
reached'regarding the numbers of engineers to be
assigned or regarding NABET Local,41's demand
that a broadcast engineer, operate the Ox berry
Stand. NBC insisted that the placement. and manip-
ulation of art on the Oxberry Stand be assigned to
an artist. NABET Local 41 -agreed to operate the
graphics room according to NBC's proposal on a
non-precedential basis for a period of time.
Additionally, the NBC proposal necessitated the
layoff by Cellomatic of its stagehands as there was
no need for projector operators, given the new
electronic equipment.
The graphics room initially functioned smoothly
and efficiently, according to the Employer's wit-
nesses. However, the engineers staged a job action
wherein they seized control over the operation of
the light switches and the color wheel on the Ox-
berry Stand. NBC declined to reverse this action
based on its view that' the operation was currently
functioning on a non-precedential basis and that
problems would be resolved subsequent to the ex-
perimental period.
Thereafter, Stage. Employees Local 2 filed two
grievances with NBC, on 20 August and 24 Sep-
tember 1981, regarding the assignment of the dis-
puted work. NABET Local 41 filed a grievance
with NBC protesting the assignment of-the Artists
Local 350 employee to work on the Oxberry Ani-
mation Stand.
Artists Local 350 has a collective-bargaining
agreement ' with Cellomatic effective 1 October
1980 to 31 March 1982 and from year to year
thereafter unless timely .modified or terminated.
Artists Local 350 also has a collective-bargaining
agreement with NBC effective 1' October 1979 to
30 September 1982: ._
The NBC agreement states in schedule II, sec-
tion I. that the duties of the graphic artist are
to design and complete art work as di-
rected by the Company and may include but is
not limited to layout, lettering, illustrating,
cartooning and animation,, maps, key-lining
and paste-up, photo retouching, pan- downs,
crawls, and live cards, the making of slides
and photo lab work with equipment now in
use or which may be purchased for the pur-
pose of aiding the production of art work and
slides, and repair and update art for air use and
perform other such duties as heretofore per-
formed by them for the Company.
330 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Cellomatic agreement provides in schedule A,
section A-2:
The duties 'of a Graphic Artist will be to
design and complete all art work for the Com-
pany with all graphic materials for use in
media such as, but not limited to, television,
slides, print, film, outdoor advertising and dis-
play, and to perform work such as layout, let-
tering, illustrating, sketching location, sketch-
ing, -negative opaquing, cartooning animation,
paste-up, • key lining, typesetting, photo re-
touching and coloring, and operation of equip-
ment and use of materials now in use, or which
may be developed to aid in the production,
repair and updating of art work such as air
brush, color key,' Varityper, photostat,- hot-
press, silk-screen, and lucigraph, and the duties
heretofore customarily -performed for the
Company.
Stage Employees Local 2 has collective-bargain-
ing agreements with both Cellomatic and NBC, the
former running 1 April 1979 to 31 March 1982 re-
newable year to year and the latter running from .1
April 1979 to. 31 March 1981 renewable year to
year. _
The agreement with Cellomatic provides in sec-
tion 1:
This agreement covers the employment of
Stagehands in all - areas where the Employer
utilizes Cellomatic - or similar type front and
rear projection equipment in the Midwestern
United States.
[I]n the event the Employer undertakes during
the term of this Agreement the exploitation of
any other devices in substitution of the Cello-
matic equipment or as an improvement there-
on, the same shall' also be covered by this ,
Agreement.
The agreement with NBC provides in its, letter
of understanding as of 1 April 1979:
. . . employees represented by Local 2 shall'
continue to operate front and rear screen pro-
jection equipment such as Vizmo or similar
type equipment in the Chicago studios, it being,
the intent of the foregoing to confirm existing
work jurisdiction and not to alter current juris-
dictional limitations.
Section 13 of the agreement with NBC provides,
inter alia, that stagehands "shall work . . . all tele-
casts when . . . lighting equipment and lighting ef-
fects are used, and such employees shall move, put
together, place-and handle, operate and maintain all
. . . lighting equipment and lighting effects."
NABET Local 41 has a master agreement with
NBC2 running from 1979 to 1983 which provides,
in article A-II, section A2.1, that Local 41 techni-
cal employees employed in the engineering depart-
ments "shall operate, maintain and . . . repair tech-
nical equipment . for use in broadcast
and/or `on the air' playback." Section A2.2(a) pro-
vides, inter alia, that NABET Local 41's jurisdic-
tion includes "all' electronic video equipment . . .
used either in connection with live broadcasting or
in connection with electronic video recording. It
shall include all related electronic, mechanical, and
optical equipment used operationally for all record-
ing, re-recording, processing, duplicating, editing,
cutting, splicing and playback." The Master Agree-
ment-further provides, in section A2.2(c)(ii):
An individual creating, composing or produc-
ing graphic or scenic displays or effects for
storage may operate - any associated input
device or devices and operating controls (but
not setup or maintenance controls) directly re-
lated to such creation, composition or produc-
tion if. (1) the type of individual assigned pos-
sesses unique talents or skills and such talents
or skills are directly related to the production,
composition, or creation of the graphic or
scenic display or effect and who has been "his-
torically" responsible for such creation.
Article A-IV provides, inter alia, that the techni-
cal director is responsible for the production of a
technically acceptable television production and is
in technical charge of the studio during production.
It further provides that engineering employees shall
take instructions only from technical directors or
program directors. -
In March 1982, Artists Local 350, through letters
from its business representatives, threatened both
NBC and Cellomatic with drastic action including
a strike if the disputed work was reassigned to
Stage Employees Local 2 or NABET Local 41.
Oral threats to strike were also made by officials of
Artists Local 350 contemporaneous with the let--
ters.
B. Work in Dispute
The disputed work involves the physical , place-
ment of artwork on the Oxberry Animation Stand
located in the graphics room at WMAQ-TV
(NBC) in Chicago , the control of the keyboards lo-
cated under the ADDA console , the providing of
instructions and guidance to the graphics room
broadcast engineer as to the composition and pro-
duction of the artwork , and the , notification of the
E NABET Local 41 has no contract with Cellomatic
PAINTERS LOCAL 350 (CELLOMATIC PRODUCTIONS) _
engineer when the artwork may be - recorded by
the camera.
C. Contentions of the Parties
Cellomatic and-NBC contend that the disputed
work should be awarded to employees represented
by Artists Local 350, on the -grounds of both Em-
ployers' preference; past practice; the provisions of
the applicable collective-bargaining agreements;
relative skills; economy and efficiency of operation;
and both area and industry practice.
Artists Local 350 argues that the disputed work
should be awarded to employees it represents on
the basis of the preference of Cellomatic and NBC;
the economy and efficiency of operation; relative
skills of its member-employees; the Employer's past
practice; area and industry practice; and its collec-
tive-bargaining agreements.
Stage Employees Local 2 urges that employees it
-represents be awarded the disputed work on the
basis of its collective-bargaining agreement; the rel-
ative, skills of its member-employees; and the ad-
verse job impact to be suffered by stagehands3 ,as
contrasted with the other disputants. _
NABET. Local 41 contends that the disputed
work should be award to employees it represents
on the basis of its collective-bargaining agreement;
past practice; economy and. efficiency of operation;
and the skill of its member-employees. .
D. Applicability of the Statute
Before the Board may proceed with a determina-
tion of the dispute pursuant to Section 10(k) of the
Act, it must , be satisfied that there is reasonable
cause to believe that Section 8(b)(4)(D) has been
violated and that the parties have not agreed o' a
method for the voluntary adjustment of the dis-
pute. - -
Stage Employees Local- 2 filed two grievances
with NBC (on 20 August and 24 September 1981)
regarding the disputed 'work.4 NBC met with
Stage Employees Local 2, but the dispute could
not be settled. Accordingly, • Stage Employees
Local 2 processed the grievance to the arbitration
stage.. -
On 12 November 1981 NABET -Local 41 filed a
grievance with, NBC concerning the disputed
work. The parties met, but were unable to resolve
their differences. Therefore, this grievance was ad-
vanced to the arbitration stage.
In December . 1981, Business Agent Elena
Marcheschi of Artists Local 350, aware of the
pending grievances, met with NBC Director of
8 All will allegedly lose their jobs
4 The placement of artwork and the operation of lights and mechanical
equipment associated with the Oxberry Animation-Stand
331
Personnel and Labor Relations Lionel Bolin for
discussions,pertaining to Artists Local 350's interest
in the disputed work which had been awarded to
employees it represented.' ,
In spring 1982, subsequent to dates assigned for
both arbitrations, Marcheschi warned Bolin that
her Union was associated. with a Union of 200,000
members whose force would be utilized to protect
her work and her members.
On 17 March 1982 Marcheschi sent essentially
similar letters to NBC and Cellomatic stating, inter
alia: '
Please be advised that if such plans to obtain
by arbitration that which is outside of the ju-
risdiction of the arbitration process are al-
lowed to proceed, we are prepared to take
drastic action, including a 'strike, to- protect
our interest. We are advising you to yield in
no degree to the improper demands forwarded
by NABET and IATSE.
Bolin interpreted this as a serious threat to strike
and informed the hierarchy at NBC and one of its
labor attorneys.
Douglas Abrams, president of Cellomatic , like-'
wise was concerned about the strike threat and
spoke thereafter with Marcheschi regarding the
contractual no-strike clause and his intent to re-
place strikers, .
In late March and 2 April 1982, Marcheschi
orally informed Bolin that Artists Local 350 would
strike to protect its work assignment . 'On 3 April
Bolin was orally informed by Irving Meyers, attor-
ney for Artists Local 350, that , he had advised the
Union to strike.
In sum,. we find, based on the threats made by
officials of Artists Local 350, reasonable cause to
believe that violations of Section, 8(b)(4)(D) have
occurred.5
With respect to an agreed-upon method for the
voluntary resolution of the dispute , there is no evi-
dence in the record and no party otherwise con-
tends that such a method, binding on all parties
exists for the voluntary resolution of this dispute.
We therefore find . that the' dispute is properly
before the Board for determination.6
5 The fact that the Union which threatened-to strike is currently per-
forming the disputed work will not prevent the Board from finding that,
under the statute, competing claims to disputed work,exist Stage Employ-
ees-(Metromedia), 260 NLRB 424 (1982)
6 Notwithstanding that the NABET Local 41 master agreement-con-
tains a resolution of jurisdictional dispute provision, this provision was
neither invoked by NABET Local 41 nor agreed to as a binding force by
the other union disputants. -
332 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
E..Merits ,of the Dispute
Section 10(k) requires the Board to make an af-
firmative award of disputed work after considering
various factors . NLRB v. Electrical Workers IBEW '
Local 1212 (Columbia Broadcasting), 364 U.S. 573
(1961). The Board has held that its determination in'
a jurisdictional dispute is an act of judgment based
on common sense and experience , reached by bal-
ancing the factors involved in a particular case.
Machinist Lodge 1743 (J. A. Jones Construction), 135
NLRB- 1402 (1962).
The following factors are relevant in making the
determination of this dispute.
1. Certifications and collective -bargaining
agreements
No party claims there are certifications applica-
ble to the work- in dispute . Both collective-bargain-
ing agreements -between Artists Local 350 and each
respective 'Employer provide -that the duties of,the
graphic artist are to design and complete all art-
work . The NBC agreement • states that the duties
may be performed on "equipment now in use or
which may be purchased for the purpose of aiding'
the production of art work and slides ." The Cello-
matic agreement provides for the artists "operation
of equipment and use of .,materials now in use or
which may be developed to aid in the production,
repair , and updating of art work."'
The Stage Employees Local 2 agreements with
Cellomatic and NBC cover the operation of front
and rear screen projection equipment . Stage Em-
ployees Local 2 argues that the Oxberry Animation'
Stand is covered by the Cellomatic agreement
under "any other devices in substitution of the Cel-
lomatic equipment or . . . an improvement there-
on"' provision . It further claims that its agreement
with NBC assigns all work -regarding lighting
equipment and effects. -
NABET Local 41 .argues that its NBC master
agreement gives it jurisdiction over all technical
electronic equipment • and nontechnical equipment
related to technical equipment.
Both Employers contend that the Artists Local
350 contract presents the best contractual basis for
the award . They allege that the Qxberry Anima-
tion Stand is a piece of equipment used by the
artist to perform his contract duties of designing
and completing artwork . The basic difference be-
tween the artists previous creation of cells and-his
current endeavor is that the artist actually , performs
artwork creation at the Oxberry Animation , Stand,
instead of completing the graphic - in the Cellomatic
office. The artist instructs the engineer to move the
camera until the appropriate artistic image is pro- -
jected on the screen - from the artwork placed on
the bed of the Oxberry. Animation Stand. When the
artist is satisfied with the image, he directs the en-
gineer to store it on the ADDA equipment.
We conclude that the collective-bargaining
agreements do not favor an award of the contested
work to any of the disputants because each agree-
ment arguably covers the new graphics'room oper-
ations. -
-2. Past practice
Prior to August 1981, Cellomatic employed art-
ists and photographers represented .,by Artists
Local 350 who produced most of the graphic art-
work for the. WMAQ-TV local news programs.
The artists created a 4-by-5 inch cell; similar. to 35
mm slides, which were projected onto a screen in a
television studio by a Cellomatic brand rear screen
projector. Cellomatic hired and trained- several
stagehands to operate the equipment. NABET
Local 41 engineers operated the camera and.elec-
tronic -equipment which broadcast the image dis-
played by the stagehands. Subsequent to August
1981, the Cellomatic process was replaced by a
more complex, technologically advanced graphics
room wherein graphics could be electronically cre-
ated, stored, recalled, and transmitted.
Because the new graphics room is unique, we
find that the factor of past practice does not favor
an award of the disputed work to any of the
groups of employees.
3. Area practice
At WBBM-TV, the CBS station _in' Chicago,'
the art stand and ' camera which create news graph-
ics are located in a separate 'room from the elec-
tronic still store equipment; this is dissimilar to the
physical, layout of WMAQ-TV. However, the
process of creating electronic graphics appears es-
sentially similar to that at WMAQ-TV. NBC's wit-
ness, testified that at CBS station WBBM Chicago,
news graphics production involves the manipula-
tion of artwork on the art stand by the graphic
artist who also controls the lights on the stand and
focuses the camera. The artist then contacts the
technical employee, located in another area which
houses the control panel (similar to WMAQ's
ADDA), by a telephone and directs-the technical
employee to store electronic stills.
We find that area practice; -because of the rela-
tive uniqueness of the graphics room, and the limit- •
ed 'evidence, does not favor awarding the disputed
work to any of the employee groups.
7 WBBM-TV does not utilize an Oxberry Animation Stand ,
PAINTERS LOCAL' 350 (CELLOMATIC PRODUCTIONS)
4. Industry practice
The NBC WMAQ-TV graphics room was mod-
eled from other NBC facilities, specifically WRC-
TV in Washington, D.C., and the local and net-
work New, York operations. In the New York
graphics rooms, the artists place their artwork on
the table under the camera, operate some of the
lights, and give instructions to_ the engineer regard-
ing the electronic completion and storage of their
artwork. Both the local and ' network New York
practice are embodied in an , agreement dated 20
December 1978, signed by representatives of NBC,
NABET, and IATSE. It states, in relevant part:
(1) Sections 1-2:
Both a graphic artist and a NABET employee
must be assigned to work in the graphics room
whenever the ADDA Electronic Still Storage
System is in use.
(2) Sections 3(b) and (4):
The NABET employee will operate the tech-
nical equipment (e.g. camera, slide processor
control panel, mixer, character generator) and
will be responsible for. the lighting equipment
only insofar as the lighting produces technical-
ly acceptable pictures. The artist operates the
lighting equipment in the graphics Rooms at
all times and will be' responsible for the cre-
ative use of the lights in 'connection with all
work done in the Rooms.
(3) Section 2:
The graphic artist may be assigned to the
room for the purpose of recall of previously
stored material for the purpose of evaluation,
alteration and recomposition, updating, or
recreation. The artist may generate manual or
automatic sequences and recall them, provided
that such sequences are regenerated by the
NABET-represented employee for air use.
A similar agreement exists covering the Wash-
ington, D.C. ESS Systems operations. It essentially
states that both a NABET engineer and a graphic
artist will be assigned to the room whenever the
electronic still store device is used, with the excep-
tion that the engineer need not be present when the
artist is "recalling previously stored material for
the purpose of evaluation, alteration, recomposi-
tion, updating or recreation from a remote terminal
located in a non-technical area." The artist need
not be present when engineers are "performing
maintenance functions, when material being en-
tered into the ESS is not artwork (e.g., live
camera , videotape stop frame, slomo freeze frame,
slides) and/or when previously recorded still/slide
333
material . . . is being remotely recalled for on the
air use : . . (or) for programs other than news pro-
grams."
Based on the foregoing, industry practice, albeit
limited, favors awarding the disputed work to the
employees represented by Artists Local 350.
5. Relative skills
The process of creating artwork in the new so-
phisticated electronic- graphics room differs signifi-
cantly from the previous Cellomatic procedure.
The new method involves more than the placement
of a completed slide on equipment for broadcast.
Electronic image production for broadcast essen-
tially necessitates the actual creation of the product
by the artist at the Oxberry equipment.
According to the,Employers, the disputed work
is best suited for the graphic artists because the cre-
ation of graphics on the Oxberry equipment in-
volves artistic judgment. The 'concept of artistic
judgment, although complex and even controver-
sial, entails evolution and transformation from the
idea in the artist's mind to the actual finished prod-
uct projected onto the TV screen. The placement
of artwork and the operation of the keyboards are
an integral part of the electronic production of art-
work. -
While the simplest graphics activity performed in
the new room involves storing an unaltered image,
this occurs only infrequently. Rather, more com-
monly, the graphics artist creates8 a complex
graphic, manually or electronically, at the Oxberry
table. The artist in the new graphics room actually
creates and assembles graphic artwork at the Ox-
berry Stand, as contrasted with the stagehands
who, as previous Cellomatic operators, operated
the projector, corrected damaged cells, and execut-
ed some visual effects;- or with the broadcast engi-
neers who exercise technical judgment about the
electronic quality of graphics for the purpose of
optimal transmission of the artist's image/work
product.
Based on the evidence, we find that the graphic
artists represented by Artists Local 350 possess the
best skills for the award of the disputed work.
6. Economy and efficiency of operation
Since the artists electronically create, alter, and
repair their product in the graphics room under the
new system, the artists are indispensable to the
process.
According to the • Employers, if the disputed
work is not awarded to the artists, the Employers
8 The artist also may modify an existing stored image at the Oxberry
table
334 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
will be compelled to hire an additional stagehand
or engineer at great additional cost Efficiency
would not be enhanced because the artist would
still be called upon to direct the stagehand or engi
neer
Furthermore, although NABET Local 41 con
tends that an engineer must always be present
when the graphics room is operational in any
event, thereby negating the Employer's above cost
argument , the engineer is positioned at the elec
tronic console 6 to 8 feet from the Oxberry Stand
and is occupied with job duties related to the elec
tronic functioning of the console
Accordingly, economy and efficiency would not
appear to be served by either hiring an additional
stagehand to perform the disputed work or by as
signing the work to an engineer whose expertise is
technical, not artistic Therefore, this factor favors
the employees represented by Artists Local 350
7 Employer preference
Both Employers prefer the assignment of the dis
puted work to graphic artists and are satisfied with
the current staffing arrangements
Accordingly, this factor favors awarding the dis
puted work to the employees Artists Local 350
represents
Conclusions
After considering all the relevant factors we
conclude that employees represented by Artists
Local 350 are entitled to perform the work in dis
pute We reach this conclusion relying on industry
practice relative skills, economy and efficiency of
operation, and both Employers preference In
making this determination, we are awarding the
work to employees represented by Artists Local
350, not to that Union or its members The deter
mination is limited to the controversy that gave
rise to the proceeding
DETERMINATION OF DISPUTE
The National Labor Relations Board makes the
following Determination of Dispute
Employees represented by United Scemc Artists,
Local 350, Brotherhood of Painters and Allied
Trades AFL-CIO are entitled to perform the
physical placement of artwork on the Oxberry Am
matron Stand, the control of the keyboards located
under the ADDA console, the providing of in
structions and guidance to the graphics room
broadcast engineer as to the composition and pro
duction of the artwork, and the notification of the
engineer when the artwork may be recorded by
the camera in the graphics room at WMAQ-TV
(NBC) in Chicago