NAB reports (Jan-Dec 1944)

Record Details:

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WASHINGTON Phone NAIionol 2080 1760 N St., N.W. J. H. Ryan, President C. E. Arney, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer Robert T. Bartley, Director of War Activities ; Lewis H. Avery, Director of Broadcast Advertising ; Willard D. Egolf, Assistant to the President ; Howard S. Frazier. Director of Engineering ; Paul F. Peter, Director of Research; Arthur C. Stringer, Director of Promotion. WMAL CASE Royal Montgomery, Hearing Officer for the War Labor Board, has submitted his report and findings to the Board in the controversy between Station WMAL and AFRA as to whether staff announcers should receive extra compen¬ sation for all local commercials. In NAB Reports, Vol. 11, No. 44, page 444, it was re¬ ported that WMAL and AFRA had submitted their dispute to the War Labor Board and in the NAB Reports of November 26, Vol. 11, No. 48, page 475, it was reported that Joseph L. Miller, then NAB Director of Labor Rela¬ tions, had appeared for WMAL and testified that extra compensation for all local commercials was not a prevalent practice in the industry. In his report, Mr. Montgomery points out that the parties are WMAL and AFRA, which represents the 6 staff announcers employed at the station. “The two issues,” says Mr. Montgomery, “are the method of payment of the employees involved and the retroactive date in case of any change in existing salary arrangements. The Union asks that the present base salary of two hundred dollars ($200.00) a month be retained and that a schedule of fees for assigned commercial broadcasts be included in the contract. ‘Assigned’ commercial broadcasts, in con¬ tract to ‘selected’ commercial broadcasts, are those in which the announcer is not selected by the sponsor or the adver¬ tising agency but is assigned to the broadcast by a radio station. The parties are in agreement that announcers’ fees in the case of selected broadcasts are to be paid to staff announcers and only the question of whether a schedule of fees shall be paid in the case of ‘assigned’ local commercial broadcasts enters into the present case.” Continuing, the report says: “The employer proposes to increase the compensation of the staff announcers by an amount substantially equal to the fee proposed by the NAB BOARD TO MEET The NAB Board of Directors wil! meet in Wash¬ ington May 8, 9 and 10. This will be the first opportunity that the Board has had to confer officially with Harold Ryan, who assumed the NAB presidency on April 15. The tentative agenda calls for discussion of many matters of vital importance to the in¬ dustry. Among these are legislation; the AFM situation, both as it affects the recording ban and the demand for "platter turners"; ASCAP relations, and the NAB Convention. Also, con¬ sideration will be given to the internal affairs of NAB. Union, but wishes this increase to be a flat amount for each of the staff announcers.” The employer submitted exhibits to demonstrate the result of the flat amount payment to the employees. This shows that with a base pay of $200.00 the total compensa¬ tion would amount to around $250.00 a month and the employer indicated willingness to increase the present base salary to this amount. Commenting upon this, the Hearing Officer says, “Accordingly, there is not an issue between the parties of total monthly compensation but only of whether the proposed fee system be instituted or base salaries be increased by the amount that the fee system would have increased the total monthly income when averaged among the six staff announcers.” The other issue involved in the case is the retroactive date. The Union asks that any change in present salary arrangements be made retroactive to August 22, 1943, the date upon which negotiations between the parties termi¬ nated. The employer took the position that there is no basis for retroactive pay, and that in any event no increase should be made retroactive prior to October 15, 1943, when the case was certified to the War Labor Board. History of the Case The last contract between AFRA and WMAL was dated March 1, 1940 and this contract had been continued in effect pending agreement of terms of a new one. At the time the original contract was entered into, WMAL and WRC were operated jointly by the National Broadcasting Company and the contract was between NBC and AFRA. In August of 1941, WMAL was purchased by the “Evening Star” Newspaper Company and later the Evening Star Broadcasting Company was incorporated. It was not until October 1, 1941, that the Evening Star Broadcasting Company started to operate WMAL but by agreement it became a party to the contract of March 1940. This contract expired November 27, 1942 but was continued on an interim basis. Negotiations with respect to the terms of the new contract were started in the fall of 1942 and were finally terminated in August 1943. Contentions of Parties The Union contended: (1) That there is contractual obligation on the part of the Company under provisions of the contract of March 1, 1940, to negotiate a scale of assigned commercial fees such as has been agreed upon by the American Federation of Radio Artists and Washington stations in substantial competition with WMAL. (2) That the flat increase method proposed by the Company would exceed the adjustment permitted by the “Little Steel” formula, but that the War Labor Board has approved the fee system in the case of contracts of other Washington radio stations and that this method of compensation adjustment is the only one which under the stabilization program has been approved. (3) That the method proposed by the Evening Star Broadcasting Company would put other Washington radio stations with which the Union has contracts at an unfair competitive advantage, with resultant detrimental effect upon employer-employee relations in the other stations. (4) That “assignd” commercial broadcasts necessitates as much, or more effort, skill and talent as do “selected” commercials, the payment of a fee for which is not in question. (5) That assigned commercial fees are in the nature of payment for service rendered to sponsors or advertising agencies on commercial programs and being such are artists’ fees separate from the base salary. The Evening Star Broadcasting Company (WMAL) contended : (1) That the provisions of Schedule I of the expired contract, invoked by the Union, do not involve obligations April 28, 1944 — 136