Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 24, 1941

35 N.L.R.B. 739 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the - Matter Of WARNER , BROS. PICTURES , INC., VITAGRAPH ,, INC., AND,
WARNER . BROS. CIRCUIT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION , AND THEIR:
SUBSIDIARY CORPORATIONS, and WARNER . BROS. ASSOCIATED OFFICE
EMPLOYEES OF GREATER NEW YORK
Case No. R-2695.-Decided September 04, 1941
Jurisdiction : motion picture industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: stip-
ulated ; election necessary. I
Unit . Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : office, clerical , secretarial , and ac-
counting employees including and excluding specific categories of employees ;
alleged confidential employees not having access to , confidential information,
relating to labor relations included in unit.
Notwithstanding union's desire not to represent certain employees if they
are in fact members of another union, held that mere membership in an-
other union does not provide a proper basis for excluding from the appro-
priate unit employees who would otherwise come within it.
Mr. H. S. Bare f ord, of New York City, for the Companies.
Boudin, Cohn d Glickstein, by Mr. Hyman N. Glickstein, of New.
York City, for the Union.
Mary ' M. - Persinger, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On March 6 and April 29, 1941, respectively, Warner Bros. Asso-
ciated Office Employees of Greater New York, herein called the
Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Second Region (New
York City) a petition and an amended petition, alleging, that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees of Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., Vitagraph, Inc., and!
Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corporation, and their subsidiary,
corporations,' herein collectively called the Companies, at the home.
office of the Companies in New York City, and requesting an investi-
' The amended petition referred only to "warner Bros. Pictures , Inc. and its sub-
sidiaries ." The parties , by stipulation made at the hearing , amended the pleadings to,
read as set forth above
35 N. L. R B., No 165.
7.39,
457 270-42-vol 35-48
740 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
gation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act.
On May 28, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called
the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article
III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized
the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice.
On June 3, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.,
herein referred to as Warner,2 and the Union. Pursuant to notice, a
hearing was held on June 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, and July 2, 1941, before
Will Maslow, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial
Examiner. The Companies and the Union were represented by coun-
sel and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the
hearing the Trial Examiner reserved ruling for the Board on a
motion ' by counsel for the Companies to dismiss the petition for
fatal variance between allegations in the petition concerning the
Union's alleged membership, and proof of membership as submitted
to the Regional Director. The motion is hereby denied. The Trial
Examiner made rulings on other motions and on objections' to the
admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of,the
Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed.
The rulings are hereby affirmed. The Companies and the Union filed
briefs on July 19 and 21, 1941, respectively.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., is a Delaware corporation, having an
office at 309-313-315-325-329 West 44th Street, New York City, herein
called the West 44th Street office. Warner is engaged in the produc-
tion of motion pictures at Burbank, California. These motion pic-
tures are leased and distributed in all States of the United States by
Vitagraph, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner. Warner ad-
mits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
As stated above, Vitagraph, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Warner, and has its offices in the same buildings as Warner in New
' Counsel for warner and its subsidiaries stipulated at the hearing that he was author-
ized to appear and did appear on behalf of Vitagraph, Inc, herein called Vitagraph, and
Circuit Management Corporation, herein called Circuit Management , and that he waived
service upon these corporations of copies of the pleadings herein and of due notice of
hearing.
WARNER BROS. PICVURES, INC., ET AL. 741
York City. Vitagraph stipulated, for the purpose of this proceeding
only, that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corporation is also a wholly
owned subsidiary of Warner, and has offices at West 44th Street. Cir-
cuit Management performs supervisory functions over a substantial
number of theatres located throughout the United States which are
-owned or leased by subsidiary corporations of Warner Bros. Pictures,
Inc., and also performs supervisory functions over theatres having no
connection with Warner and its subsidiaries. For the purpose of this
proceeding only, Circuit Management and Warner concede that the
office, clerical, secretarial, and accounting employees of Circuit Man-
agement in the Nest 44th Street office are engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act. ,
It was,stipulated that various other wholly owned subsidiary cor-
porations of Warner have offices in the West 44th Street Office.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Warner Bros. Associated Office Employees of Greater New York
is an unaffiliated labor organization, admitting to membership em-
ployees at the West 44th Street office of the employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION,
It was,stipulated at the hearing that the Union has requested the
Companies to bargain collectively with it as the exclusive representa-
tive of certain of its employees at the West 44th Street office, but that
the Companies shave declined to bargain collectively with the Union
unless and until it is certified by the Board as the exclusive collective
bargaining representative of such employees.
A statement by the Regional Director, introduced in evidence at the
hearing, shows that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit alleged by it to be appropriate.3
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Companies.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
UPON COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operation of the Companies
3 The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted for inspection 270 mem-
bership application cards, 256 of which bore dates between January 1 and April 30, 1941,
and 16 of which were undated ; and that all of the signatures on the cards appeared,to
be genuine signatures and were the names of persons on the Companies ' pay rolls for
April 5, 1941. These pay rolls , according to the Report , contain the names of approxi-
mately 580 employees in the unit alleged to be appropriate. At the hearing 3 union officers
testified that at least 126 employees had promised to vote for the Union in the event of an
election , although they had not signed application cards in the Union.
742 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. TUE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that all office, clerical, secretarial and account-
mg.employees employed at the West 44th Street office of the Companies
constitute an appropriate bargaining unit.
Both parties stipulated that the following classes of employees
should be excluded from the unit claimed by the Union: executives;
supervisory employees having the power to hire and discharge; per-
sons having a duty to recommend hiring, discharging, wage increases,
or other adjustments of working conditions; persons having a duty
to enforce or recommend disciplinary action; all other employees who
regularly supervise the performance of work by their subordinates;
confidential secretaries to executives; secretaries to supervisory em-
ployees, if such supervisory employees have duties of a highly con-
fidential nature; employees more than 50 per cent of whose working
time is spent away from the New York office; and all employees who
are represented by labor organizations other than the petitioner in
connection with the three corporations named in this,proceeding or any
of their subsidiaries.
The Companies contend (1) that a unit consisting of employees of
the various corporations located in the West 44th Street office is in-
appropriate, but (2) that if appropriate, all employees within the
claimed classifications employed in the following divisions should be
excluded : Warner Club, Inc. ; the legal department; the trust depart-
ment ; the tax department; the Artist's Bureau , Inc.; the scenario de-
partment; the censorship department; Continental Theatre Acces-
sories, Inc. ; the construction and maintenance department; the sound
department; the legitimate theatre department; the purchasing or
advertising accessories department; the foreign publicity department;
the foreign title department; the Exchange Traveling Auditors, and
all traveling auditors and checkers; and all supervisory employees
and confidential secretaries, and also all employees doing work of an
essentially confidential nature.
With regard to the Companies' first contention it is significant that
such contention was first raised in their brief. At the hearing the
Companies neither asserted nor sought to prove that the claimed unit
was inappropriate because it included employees of the various cor-
porations comprising the, Warner group who are located in the West
44th Street office. On the other hand, the Union introduced evi-
dence to the effect that all the employees claimed by the Union work
WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC., ET AL. 743
in one group of buildings occupied by the Companies; all such em-
ployees, no matter who their corporate employer, are, subject to a cen-
tral personnel department which.passes upon all hiring, discharges,
applications for vacation and sick leave, and like matters; all em-
ployees whom the Union claims to represent have a common work
week, and are paid substantially similar weekly wages; and all such
employees are eligible for the group insurance which is carried by
Warner for all employees in the West 44th Street office, regardless of
which subsidiary corporation is their actual employer. Also, so far
as appears from the record, each corporation, and each department
about which the parties disagree, is served by a common mailroom,
and each uses the facilities of the legal, the reproduction, and the
accounting departments located in the West 44th Street office. We
find that employees at the West 44th Street office constitute an ap-
propriate unit.
As noted above, the parties disagree as to the exclusion or inclusion
.of the following departments or groups of employees :
The legal department.-The Companies contend that the clerical
workers in the legal department are engaged in highly confidential
work and that the entire department should be excluded from the
unit. The lawyers (whom the Union does not claim) handle all law-
suits, arbitrations, and other legal matters concerning the corpora-
tions in the Warner group. The assistant secretary of Warner testi-
fied that each "clerical worker" in the legal department is secretary
for one of the lawyers and handles all his mail and papers, and his
own personal files.
The trust departn ent.-The employees in this department, in addi-
tion to several lawyers, consist of stenographers, file clerks, a secre-
t ary, general clerks, two bookkeepers, and one accountant. The Com-
panies contend that the employees in the entire department should
be excluded because the trust department has custody of extremely
confidential documents relating to the affairs of all the Warner cor-
porations. The trust department handles all papers relating to real
estate transactions, agreements for the purchase of equipment for
theatres, miscellaneous service contracts for theatres, and artist's con-
tracts. It also requisitions payments on mortgages, interest, rents,.
and other matters for the Warner corporations.
The tax department.-The employees in this department are secre-
taries, stenographers, file clerks, typists, and four men referred to as
``tax accountants." The Union claims all of these employees, while
the Companies contend (1) that the whole tax department handles
confidential matters, and all employees therein should be excluded or
,(2) that in any event the "tax accountants" should be excluded be-
cause they are, highly skilled and represent the Warner interests in
hearings before various governmental agencies. The tax department
744 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
prepares tax returns for all the corporations affiliated with, or sub-
sidiaries of, Warner. The tax accountants gather material from
various sources at the home office, consolidate those facts on their tax
forms, and submit the forms for the approval of the head of the de-
partment. One of the tax accountants testified that although he and
the other three tax accountants attended tax hearings, none of them was
a lawyer or a Certified Public Accountant, and that their only function
was to supply their superior with figures which he might need at such
hearings. He also testified that the tax accountants read the tax laws
and decisions of the various tax jurisdictions, that they consulted
various legal tax services, and frequently discussed tax law with mem-
bers of the legal department. He further testified that the tax ac-
countants earned about twice as much as the stenographers in the
tax department, but that they were otherwise subject to the same rules
and working conditions, and that none of them has any disciplinary
authority. The tax accountants are eligible for membership in the
Union.
With respect to the employees in the legal, trust, and tax depart-
ments, we are of the opinion that the Companies have advanced no
convincing reason for excluding such employees from a unit com-
posed of general categories of office workers. While all the em-
ployees in such departments undoubtedly have access to certain in-
formation which may be considered "confidential," the record indi-
cates that the same is true of the vast majority of the employees in
the West 44th Street office. We have recently held that employees
must have access to confidential information which relates directly
to the problem of labor relations if they are to be excluded from the
unit, and that the possession of important information is of itself not
sufficient to justify deprivation of the right to collective b trgaining.4
We shall, therefore, include the employees in the legal, tax, and trust
departments in the unit.
The sound department; the construction and maintenance depart-
ment; the scenario department; the censorship department; the pur-
chasing or advertising accessories department; and Continental
Theatre Accessories, Inc.-The Companies have 'advanced no evi-
dence to justify or reason for excluding from the appropriate unit
employees in these departments who would otherwise come within it.
We shall include such employees in the unit.
The Artists Bureau, Inc.; the legitimate theatre department; and
the foreign publicity department.-The Companies contend that em-
ployees in these departments do not have a similarity of interest with
other employees at the West 44th Street office. However, no 'proof
was advanced by the Companies in support, of this contention.
4 Matter of Creamery Package Manufacturing Company ( Lake Mills Plant ) and Steel
Workers Organizing Committee , C. 1 0, 34 N. L. It. B 108.
WARNER BROS . PICTURES, INC., ET AL. 745
We shall include employees in the Artist's Bureau, Inc., the legit-
imate theatre department, and the foreign publicity department,
within the appropriate unit. Our dE cision in this respect also covers
the translators in the foreign publicity department. Our reasons
for including translators in the unit are set forth below, under the
discussion of the foreign title department.
The foreign title department.-The foreign title department writes
foreign titles (script) to explain American talking pictures shown
in foreign countries. The employees engaged in this work must
build up the suitable parts of the picture and minimize what might
be the offensive parts in any particular country. The Union claims
the employees who prepare these titles, (apparently under the
category designated "translators"), while the Companies contend
that such employees should be excluded from the unit because they
must use judgment, 'discretion, and literary ability in preparing the
titles and that they are, therefore, like the publicists in other de-
partments whom the Union has agreed to exclude.
In a prior case before the Board involving employees of Warner
at the West 44th Street office, we excluded certain categories of office
workers, among whom were translators, from a unit of publicists
sought by the Screen Publicists Guild. Warner did not object to
such exclusion 5 Under all the circumstances, we shall include em-
ployees in the foreign title department, including translators, in the
appropriate unit.
The Exchange Travelling Auditors and travelling auditors and
checkers.-This group of employees comprises bog-office auditors who
travel to theatres owned by Warner or other corporations with which
Warner has operating agreements, make audits, and return to the
West 44th Street office for the arrangement and submission of their
accounts; and "clockers" or "checkers" who visit the various theatres
operated by Warner and check for dishonesty at the box-office. The
Union claims that the auditors and checkers come within the term
"accounting employees." The Companies gave no specific reasons
for, and offered no evidence to justify excluding these employees.
We shall include the travelling auditors and checkers within the unit.'
The Warner Club is a social and benevolent organization' which
does not function as a labor organization . Its membership includes
employees in the West 44th Street office as well as employees at vari-
ous other warehouses, laboratories, and buildings of the Companies.
The Union does not claim the members of the Warner Club, as such,
and the Companies specifically ask for their exclusion from the unit.
6 Matter of Warner Bros Pictures , Inc, and Screen Publicists Guild, et al, 34 N L it B
119 (one of eight consolidated cases).
6 Our action in this respect does not affect those auditors and checkers who would
otherwise come within the agreed exclusion covering those employees who spend more
than 50 per cent of their working time away from thn New York office.
`746 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We shall not include the members of the Warner Club, as such, in
the unit.
Paul Schechter.-Schechter works in the law library. The Union
claims that he is a clerk or messenger, while the Companies contend
that he is serving his law clerkship. A witness for the Union testi-
-Sed that Schechter did sometimes study in the library, but that he is
taking pre-law courses and is not yet in law school. We shall include
-Paul Schechter in the unit.
Ernest Ullberg.-Ullberg works in the tax department where he
checks the tax bills on all property against the tax rate, and notifies
Warner attorneys in various parts of the country when the tax bills
are at variance with the proper tax rates. The Union claims that
Ullberg should be included within the unit," while the Companies
desire that he be excluded. Ullberg's duties do not appear to be
sufficiently dissimilar to those of other employees whom we have in-
cluded in the appropriate unit to justify his exclusion therefrom.
We shall include Ernest Ullberg in the unit.
The parties have agreed that all employees who are "represented"
by labor organizations other than the Union should be excluded from
the appropriate unit. The Union also stated at the hearing that it
-did not desire to represent telephone operators and telegraph clerks
if they are in fact members of another union. With respect to the
parties' agreement to exclude all employees who are "represented"
by labor organizations other than the Union, we interpret such stip-
ulation to mean that the parties wish to exclude persons who are
represented in a separate unit under an exclusive recognition con-
tract between the Companies and a labor organization, other than
the Union. Subject to our interpretation, we believe that the exclu-
sion is a proper one, and we so find. As regards the telephone opera-
tors and telegraph clerks, we are of the opinion that mere membership
in another union does not provide a proper basis for excluding from
the appropriate unit employees who would otherwise come within
it. Telephone operators and telegraph clerks are clearly office workers.
We shall include them within the unit.
Upon the basis of the entire record, we find that all office, clerical,
secretarial, and accounting employees 7 of the Companies at their
' The Union contends , and we find , that the following employees come within the defini-
tion of "office, clerical , secretarial and accounting employees" :
Bookkeepers , receptionists , telephone and telegraph clerks, operators , auditors,
office boys , traffic manager , legal clerk, comptometer operators , accountants , bookers,
salesmen , billing machine operators , cashiers, typing clerks, secretaries , translators,
stock clerks , mail clerks , stenographers , collaters , stencil lettering clerks, messengers,
typists , reproduction machine operators , general clerks, key punch operators, key
punch supervisors , tabulation operators , tabulation supervisors ; and that the 'term
"messengers" includes errand boys ; and that the term "reproduction machine oper-
ators" includes employees operating photostating , mimeographing , multigraphing, and
addressographing machines
^ WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC., ET AL. 747
West 44th Street office in New York City, including those in the
above categories employed in, the legal department, the trust depart-
ment, the tax department, the sound,department, the construction
and maintenance department, the foreign title department, the scenario
department, the censorship department, the Artist's Bureau, Inc.,
Continental Theatre Accessories, Inc., the legitimate theatre depart-
ment, the purchasing or advertising accessories department, the for-
eign publicity department, the Exchange Travelling Auditors,
travelling auditors and checkers, and translators, and including Paul
Schechter and Ernest Ullberg, but excluding executives, supervisory
employees having the power to hire and discharge, persons having
the duty to recommend hiring, discharging, wage increases or other
adjustments of working conditions, persons having it duty to enforce
or recommend disciplinary action, all other employees who regularly
supervise the performance of work by their subordinates, confidential
secretaries to executives, secretaries to supervisory employees, if
such supervisory employees have duties of a highly confidential natures
employees more than 50 per cent of whose working time is spent away
from the West 44th Street office, employees who are represented by
labor organizations other than the Union," lawyers, engineers, pub-
licists, and artists," constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure to employees
of the Companies the full benefit of their right to self-organization
and to collective bargaining, and otherwise effectuate the policies
of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen
can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot.
The Union asks that the pay roll for the week the amended petition
was filed , or in lieu thereof, the pay roll as of the date the hearing
started, be used to determine eligibility to vote in an election. The
Companies desire that eligibility be determined as of the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election.
No sufficient reason appears which would cause us to depart from our
usual practice, and in accordance therewith we shall direct that the
employees of the Companies eligible to vote in the election shall be
those in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
The exclusion is limited by our definition of confidential employees as set forth above.
° The exclusion is subject to our interpretation, heicinabove set forth.
10 The Union stated at the hearing that it did not claim lawyers, engineers , publicists,
or artists . The Companies did not object to such exclusion . We have, therefore, ex-
cluded these employees from the appropriate unit
748 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
herein, subject to such limitations and additions as are set forth in the
Direction of Election.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., Vitagraph,
Inc., and Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corporation, and their
subsidiary corporations, New York City, within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations
Act.
2. All office, clerical, secretarial, and accounting employees of the
,Companies at their West 44th Street office in New York City, includ-
ing those in the above categories employed in the legal department, the
-trust department, the tax department, the sound department, the con-
struction and maintenance department, the foreign title department,
the scenario department, the censorship department, the Artist's
Bureau, Inc., Continental Theatre Accessories, Inc., the legitimate thea-
tre department, the purchasing or advertising accessories department,
the foreign publicity department, the Exchange Travelling Auditors,
travelling auditors and checkers, and translators, and including Paul
Schechter and Ernest Ullberg, but excluding executives, supervisory
employees having the power to hire and discharge, persons having the
duty to recommend hiring, discharging, wage increases or other ad-
justments of working conditions, persons having a duty to enforce or
recommend disciplinary action, all other employees who regularly
supervise the performance of work by their subordinates, confidential
secretaries to executives, secretaries to supervisory employees, if such
supervisory employees have duties of a highly confidential nature,
employees more than 50 per cent of whose working time is spent away
from the West 44th Street office, employees who are represented by
labor organizations other than the Union, lawyers, engineers, pub-
licists, and artists, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) 'of the
National Labor Relations Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and,pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act
and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the,investigation' authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC., ET'AL. 749
with Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., Vitagraph, Inc., and Warner Bros.
Circuit Management Corporation, and their subsidiary corporations,
New York City, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early
as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this
Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Direc-
tor for the Second Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9,
of said-Rules and Regulations, among all office, clerical, secretarial,
and accounting employees employed at the West 44th Street office of
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., Vitagraph, Inc., and Warner Bros. Cir-
cuit Management Corporation, and their subsidiary corporations, New
York City, whose names appear on the Companies' pay roll for the
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election,
including those in the above categories employed in the legal depart-
ment, the trust department, the tax department, the sound depart-
ment, the construction and maintenance department, the foreign title
department, the scenario department, the censorship department, the
Artist's Bureau, Inc., Continental Theatre Accessories, Inc., the legiti-
mate theatre department, the purchasing or advertising accessories
department, the foreign publicity department, the Exchange Travel-
ling Auditors, travelling auditors and checkers, and translators, and
including Paul Schechter, Ernest Ullberg, and any employees who
did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on
vacation or in the active military service or training of the United
States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding executives, supervisory
employees having the power to hire and discharge, persons having the
.duty to recommend hiring, discharging, wage increases or other ad-
justments of working conditions, persons having a duty to enforce or
recommend disciplinary action, all other employees who regularly
supervise the performance of work by their subordinates, confidential
secretaries to executives, secretaries to supervisory employees, if such
supervisory employees have duties of a highly confidential nature,
employees more than 50 per cent of whose working time is spent away
from the West 44th Street office, employees who are represented by
labor organizations other than the Union, lawyers, engineers, pub-
licists, artists, and employees who have since quit or been discharged
for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented
by Warner Bros. Associated Office Employees of Greater New York
for the purposes of collective bargaining.