Westinghouse Broadcasting Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 8, 1972

195 N.L.R.B. 339 (N.L.R.B. 1972)

WESTINGHOUSE BROADCASTING COMPANY 339
Westinghouse Broadcasting Company , Inc. and Ameri-
can Federation of Television and Radio Artists,
Washington -Baltimore Local, AFL-CIO, Peti-
tioner . Case 5-RC-7730
February 8, 1972
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS FANNING
AND JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, by Ameri-
can Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Wash-
ington-Baltimore Local, AFL-CIO, on July 9, 1971, a
hearing was held on August 25, and October 28 and 29,
1971, before Frank S. Astroth, Hearing Officer of the
National Labor Relations Board. On October 29, 1971,
the Regional Director for Region 5 issued an order
transferring the case to the Board. Thereafter, briefs
were filed by the Employer and the Petitioner.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rulings
made at the hearing and finds that they are free from
prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate the purposes
of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organization involved claims to repre-
sent certain employees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer within
the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Section 2(6) and (7)
of the Act, for the following reasons:
The Employer is an Indiana corporation with its
principal office in New York City. The Employer oper-
ates television station WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Mary-
land. WJZ-TV is affiliated with the American Broad-
casting Company, and provides a complete line-up of
television programs, including those of local, ABC net-
work, and Westinghouse "Group" presentations.
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all news
producers at the Employer's WJZ-TV Baltimore,
Maryland, station. The Employer contends that the
requested unit is inappropriate for collective-bargain-
ing purposes because the news producers are super-
visors within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Act
and, therefore, that the petition should be dismissed.
We agree.
The general manager of Station WJZ-TV is responsi-
ble for all operations of the station. The program
manager, who reports to the general manager, is totally
195 NLRB No. 63
responsible for all programing on the station, including
all local and network presentations. There are encom-
passed within the program department four separate
departments, namely, the news department, with
which we are here concerned, the traffic and operations
department, the film department, and the studio
production department.
The function of the news department is to "search
out the news, gather it, analyze it, and report it respon-
sibly." The news department is under the supervision
and control of the news director, and numbers about 25
employees. They include an assignment editor/assist-
ant news director, 4 news producers (at issue here), 10
newscasters/reporters (talent), who gather and report
the news over the air, 7 news cameramen, 2 film pro-
cessors, and 1 film editor. The cameramen, film pro-
cessors, and film editor are represented by the Interna-
tional Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, and
the newscasters/reporters are represented by the Peti-
tioner. There is no history of collective bargaining for
the news producers involved herein.
The news department produces three news programs
per day, Monday through Friday, at 1 p.m., 5:30 p.m.,
and 11 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays, two news pro-
grams are produced each day, one being telecast at 6:30
p.m. and the other at 11 p.m. There is at least one news
producer assigned to each show.
The news producer is, as the name implies, the pro-
ducer of the news program, and has overall responsibil-
ity for bringing the whole package together. He is re-
sponsible for the content of the program, the
structuring of the program, the timing in the program,
and the placement of commercials within the program.
In developing the format of the show, the news pro-
ducer will decide what stories will be used; review the
scripts prepared by the news reporters and the camera-
men; decide the time for each news segment; assign
news reporters the writing of necessary story lead-ins;
directly oversee the work of the film processors and film
editor; and, finally, assume complete responsibility for
the show's continuity, accuracy, and conformance to
company policy and Federal Communications Com-
mission rules. It is significant that, while the news pro-
ducers are responsible to the news director and his
assistant, it is the news producers and not the director
or his assistant, who are responsible for the immediate,
day-to-day supervision of the cameramen, news report-
ers, film processors, and the film editor.
Additionally, the news producers, in the absence of
the news director and the assignment editor, can assign
reporters and cameramen to stories, and reassign them
as needed. Although they do not have authority to call
employees to work outside their normal shift, they do
have the authority to assign overtime work to em-
ployees, such as the cameramen, news reporters, and
film processors, after their shift. Moreover, on week-
340 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ends the news producers are in complete charge of the
news operation. The news producers have authority to
purchase stories from "stringers" (free agents who offer
news films for sale) and to buy other stories from off-
duty employee cameramen, although this practice has
been curtailed somewhat in recent months due to
budgetary limitations.
The news producers meet with the news director, the
program manager, and other high echelon officials, in
monthly meetings to discuss and formulate company
policy decisions. Discussions are held as to the develop-
ment of prime time programs to go on the air in the fall,
efforts to improve the position of the newscast, budge-
tary problems, the assignments of news stories, and the
quality of the talent. The news producers are consid-
ered by the Employer as part of the management and
supervisory structure. They are paid from the super-
visory payroll, i.e., bimonthly rather than weekly; and,
moreover, they are eligible for participation in the
Westinghouse management disability plan, a right ac-
corded only to supervisory and management em-
ployees.
In the light of the foregoing, and the record as a
whole, we find that the news producers responsibly
direct the work of other employees, including the news
reporters, cameramen, film processors, and film editor,
and that they possess other indicia of supervisory au-
thority, as noted above, including assignment of over-
time to and immediate responsibility for the work of
these employees. We therefore conclude that they are
supervisors within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the
Act. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition.'
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein be,
and it hereby is, dismissed.
See Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, Inc, 188 NLRB No 24