Airport Terminal Services

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 29, 1977

232 N.L.R.B. 633 (N.L.R.B. 1977)

AIRPORT TERMINAL SERVICES
Airport Terminal Services, Inc. and Automotive,
Petroleum and Allied Industries Employees Union,
Local No. 618, affiliated with International Broth-
erhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen
and Helpers of America, Petitioner. Case 14-RC-
8463
September 29, 1977
DECISION ON REVIEW AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN FANNING AND MEMBERS
JENKINS AND MURPHY
On June 8, 1977, the Regional Director for Region
14 issued his Decision and Direction of Election in
the above-entitled proceeding and directed an
election in a unit of all full-time and regular part-
time employees of the Employer. Thereafter, pursu-
ant to National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations, Series 8, as amended, Petitioner filed a
timely request for review of the Regional Director's
Decision, contending that he had erred by including
in the unit certain classifications not sought in the
petition.
By telegraphic order dated June 27, 1977, the
National Labor Relations Board granted the request
for review and stayed the election pending decision
on review.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has considered the entire record with
respect to the issue under review and hereby makes
the following findings:
The Employer is engaged in providing aviation
terminal facilities and services for various airline
carriers at the St. Louis International Airport
(Lambert Field) in St. Louis, Missouri. The Employ-
er operates out of two locations at the airport, one
situated at the International Wing of the Terminal
Building, and another located at a separate, "fixed-
base" facility less than I mile from the main
terminal.
The Petitioner sought a unit limited to mechanics,
fixed-base employees, and ramp-service employees at
the above-named facilities. The Regional Director
found, in agreement with the Employer, that skycaps
(also referred to as baggage porters) and ticket agents
should also be included in the unit. This finding was
based primarily on factors of common overall
supervision and frequent contacts between those
employees sought by Petitioner and those classifica-
tions which it would have excluded from the unit.
232 NLRB No. 106
We find merit in the contentions of Petitioner that
the fixed-base employees, ramp-service employees,
and mechanics enjoy a sufficiently separate commu-
nity of interest to constitute an appropriate unit and,
for the reasons set forth below, we agree that the
ticket agents and skycaps should be excluded from
the unit.
The Employer performs ground-handling services,
including aircraft refueling and cleaning, baggage
and ticketing services, and porter services for certain
airlines (both charter and commercial) using the
International Wing and the fixed-base facilities at the
St. Louis International Airport. To accomplish the
foregoing functions, the Employer utilizes the ser-
vices of ticket agents, skycaps, ramp service person-
nel, fixed-base employees, and mechanics.
The ramp-service employees load passenger lug-
gage onto aircraft (as well as unload) and are also
responsible for the cleaning and refueling of planes.
The fixed-base employees are similarly responsible
for the cleaning and refueling of aircraft at the
Employer's fixed-base facility. Skycaps are generally
responsible for the transportation of passenger
luggage from the ticketing area to a loading platform
for transfer by the ramp-service employees to the
aircraft. Ticket agents perform their functions of
writing and processing at stations inside the main
terminal building. One full-time and one part-time
mechanic are employed to maintain small buslike
vehicles (called plane mates) utilized by the Employ-
er to transport baggage and passengers between
aircraft and the terminal facility.
The record reveals that fixed-base and ramp-
service employees have infrequent contact with the
ticket agents, although occasionally a ramp-service
employee may drive a plane mate with passengers
aboard from the ticketing area to the aircraft
accompanied by a ticket agent. Skycaps come into
contact with ramp-service and fixed-base employees
on a more regular basis, inasmuch as their job
function entails delivery of luggage to these employ-
ees for loading onto the aircraft. The record further
reveals that there is a substantial amount of job
interchange between the ramp-service employees and
the fixed-base employees.
For the most part, fixed-base employees, ramp-
service employees, and the two mechanics perform
their respective job functions outside the airport
terminal, while the majority of skycaps' and ticket
agents' time is spent inside the terminal. In this
regard, while the Employer's assistant vice president
for operations, Don Bevans, has overall responsibili-
ty for the Employer's operation at St. Louis Interna-
tional Airport, it appears that the ramp-service
employees and other unit employees are supervised
by Kaliszewsky when they are working on planes.
633
DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
With respect to hours of employment and rates of
compensation, the fixed-base employees are the
Employer's only full-time employees at present, the
rest of the employee contingent being utilized on a
part-time basis. Skycaps and ramp-service employees
are guaranteed 3 hours of work per flight, and ticket
agents are guaranteed 4 hours per flight. The top
wage rates for ticket agents and skycaps is $3.25 and
$3.50 per hour, respectively; the top wage for ramp-
service employees is $4.25 per hour; and the highest
paid fixed-base employee earns in excess of $5 per
hour. All uniforms are provided by the Employer. As
noted above, while there is frequent job interchange
between fixed-base and ramp-service employees,
there is no interchange between fixed-base and
ramp-service employees and the ticket agents and
skycaps.
It is apparent from the foregoing that the ramp-
service employees, fixed-base employees, and me-
chanics perform distinctive functions directly on
aircraft or plane mates, including loading and
unloading luggage onto aircraft, cleaning and refuel-
ing planes, and maintaining the plane mates. These
duties clearly set them apart from the ticket agents
and skycaps, whose job functions are significantly
different in that they perform their duties primarily
inside the terminal building, and come into regular
I See Airkaman, Inc., 230 NLRB 924 (1977); see also Tri-Siate Aero, Inc.,
180 NLRB 60 (1969).
contact with airline passengers. The separate inter-
ests of the fixed-base employees, ramp-service
employees, and mechanics is underscored by the lack
of interchange or transfer between them and the
ticket agents and skycaps. While it is true, as found
by the Regional Director, that these two groups of
employees have some contact with one another and
share certain similarities in benefits, these consider-
ations are not sufficient to overcome the distinctly
separate community of interest enjoyed by the fixed-
base employees, ramp-service employees, and me-
chanics.1
Accordingly, we find that the following employees
constitute an appropriate unit for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9(b) of the Act:
All mechanics, fixed-base employees, and ramp
service employees employed by the Employer at
its facilities located at St. Louis International
Airport (Lambert Field), St. Louis, Missouri; but
excluding ticket agents, skycaps, office clerical
employees, professional employees, guards and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote
omitted from publication.]
634