Marriott Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 8, 1974

209 N.L.R.B. 478 (N.L.R.B. 1974)

478 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Marriott In-Flite Services, a Division of Marriott
Corporation and Airline Division Local 732 affili-
ated with the International Brotherhood of Team-
sters, Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and Helpers of
America, Petitioner. Case 29-RC-2260
March 8, 1974
DECISION ON REVIEW
BY MEMBERS JENKINS, KENNEDY, AND
PENELLO
On June 21, 1973, the Regional Director for
Region 29 issued a Decision and Direction of
Election in the above-entitled proceeding in which,
inter alia, he found appropriate and directed an
election in the Petitioner's requested unit of employ-
ees at the Employer's four commissary kitchens
providing food-catering services for in-flight airline
passengers at John F. Kennedy International Airport
and LaGuardia Airport in New York City, New
York, referred to herein as Kennedy and LaGuardia.
Thereafter, the Employer, in accordance with Section
102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations, as amended, filed a timely request
for review of the Regional Director's Decision on the
grounds, inter aka, that in reaching his unit determi-
nation he made findings of fact which were clearly
erroneous and departed from precedent.
On November 1, 1973, by telegraphic order, the
request for review was granted and the election
stayed pending decision on review. Thereafter, the
Employer filed a brief on review, and the Petitioner
filed a statement indicating its reliance on the
Regional Director's Decision and on a 1971 decision
issued in Case 29-RC-1620 involving similar opera-
tions of the Employer.'
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 issues under review, including the
briefs on review, and makes the following findings: 2
The Employer contends that the employees at its
four terminal food-catering facilities at Kennedy and
LaGuardia have such a close community of interest
with the requested commissary kitchen employees
that only an eight-facility unit is appropriate herein.
I Appearing in the published volumes of National Labor Relations
Board Decisions as 192 NLRB 379 However, by telegraphic order dated
August 26 , 1971, the Board rescinded its Decision and Direction of
Elections in that case , thus rendering moot a request for reconsideration
thereof , and the Regional Director subsequently approved the parties'
stipulation for certification upon consent election in a unit of employees at
the Employer's then existing commissary kitchens serving Kennedy and
LaGuardia
2 The Employer's contentions relating to matters other than the scope of
209 NLRB No. 74
It urges that this conclusion is compelled by the facts
herein relating to (1) interchange of employees; (2)
geographic proximity of the eight facilities; (3)
centralization of control of labor relations policies;
(4) uniformity of wages and benefits; (5) degree of
autonomy of the facility managers; (6) integration of
operations of all eight facilities; and (7) the bargain-
ing pattern in the airline catering industry. We find
merit in the Employer's contention.
The Employer is headquartered at Washington,
District of Columbia, and is subdivided administra-
tively into four regions, one of which is located in
New York City and includes facilities serving
Kennedy, LaGuardia, and Newark airports.3
The requested unit encompasses a total of 528
employees: at Shoppes 370.01 and 370.02 located in
the same building at Kennedy; at Shoppe 377, which
includes an annex, located three-fourths of a mile
from Kennedy; and at Shoppe 375 located near
LaGuardia. Under the Employer's contracts with
various airlines, each of these Shoppes, as commis-
sary kitchens, cooks or prepares meals in bulk,
assembles them on trays, loads them on carriers, and
conveys them by truck to the aircraft where they are
transferred on board for storage and subsequent
service to passengers in flight. Each of these Shoppes
also operates a cafeteria for the service of meals to
employees of the Employer and the airlines with
which it has contracts.
The Employer would add to the requested unit 216
employees at the following facilities: Shoppe 376,
which is located at Kennedy in the Eastern Airlines
terminal and includes a cafeteria for employees of
the Employer and Eastern Airlines, a coffee shop, a
snackbar, a restaurant, a liquor bar, and a lounge for
first class passengers; 4 Shoppe 371, opened in
December 1971, which is located at Kennedy in the
National Airlines terminal and includes an employee
cafeteria, a coffee shop, and a liquor bar; Shoppe
344, opened in March 1972, which is located at
Kennedy in the Pan American Airlines terminal and
includes a cafeteria, a snackbar, and a liquor bar;
and Shoppe 374, opened in September 1971, which is
located at LaGuardia in the Eastern Airlines shuttle
terminal and includes a snackbar, a stand-up food
bar, and a liquor bar.
The airlines with which the Employer has contracts
for food catering exercise certain controls over the
the appropriate unit are rejected as clearly lacking in merit, and the
Regional Director's findings with respect thereto are hereby affirmed.
3 Only the facilities serving Kennedy and LaGuardia are involved
herein.
4 Some or all of the Shoppe 376 facilities were in operation in 1967. See
Marriott In-Flight Services, A Division of Marriott-Hot Shoppes , Inc, 168
NLRB 365 The Employer did not there contend that the requested unit
should be broadened in scope to include its Eastern Airlines terminal
facility
MARRIOTT IN-FLITE SERVICES
Employer's operations . Thus, they control the types
of food prepared, the size of the portions, the
composition of the menus, and the prices charged at
the terminal facilities. They may require an employ-
ee's termination because of unsatisfactory work and
may specify individuals for certain responsibilities.
At the commissary kitchens, they usually have a
representative present to insure that operations meet
their requirements. And they have a representative
present to insure that safety requirements are met in
transferring the meal trays to the aircraft.
All eight Shoppes are under the immediate direc-
tion of the Employer's regional vice president for
operations and his staff, which includes a regional
controller, purchasing director, maintenance manag-
er, safety director, quality control supervisor, cater-
ing coordinator, and personnel manager. Each
Shoppe has a manager who reports to the regional
vice president. The Shoppe managers have no
authority to establish wage rates or personnel policy,
or to determine the size of their employee comple-
ment or to grant either individual ment or general
wage increases. Their authority to discharge is
limited to occasions such as "aggravated unprovoked
assaults upon a member of management without
cause." The regional vice president makes visits to
each Shoppe almost daily.
Wage rates, benefits, and personnel policies are in
fact uniform for all employees in the same classifica-
tions. Certain job classifications, such as cooks,
station attendants, utility workers, and store helpers,
are common to all eight Shoppes. Others are peculiar
to each type of Shoppe. The commissary kitchens
have coordinators, food and equipment handlers,
chefs, pastry chefs, bakers, clerks, platform attend-
ants, etc. Some of the terminal facilities have waiters
and waitresses, hostesses, cocktail waiters and wait-
resses, and bartenders.
During the year 1972, there were 775 temporary
and 56 permanent transfers of employees from one
to another of the eight Shoppes. Of these totals, 526
temporary and 47 permanent transfers did not
involve a change in type of operation. However, 249
of the temporary transfers involved a change from
commissary kitchen to terminal facility or vice versa.
The temporary transfers were occasioned by unex-
pected absences, the need for temporary loans of
employees, and seasonal fluctuations and peaks in
the operations. At LaGuardia, some employees work
part of the week at the terminal facility and part at
the commissary kitchen there located, and meals
prepared at the latter are delivered to the terminal
facility to be served to Eastern Airlines employees.
There are also daily interchanges of equipment
among some of the commissary kitchens and some of
the terminal facilities.
479
Finally, the Employer sought to establish that in
the airline catering industry, at airports in the United
States , a pattern of bargaining exists for single units
combining employees of both terminal facilities and
in-flight commissary kitchens. It introduced evidence
that such bargaining units have been established for
employees of three other major airline caterers, i.e.,
Sky Chef, at Kennedy and at airports in 16 other
cities in the United States; Host International, at
airports in 7 cities; and Dobbs House, at airports in
Memphis, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia.
Summing up our conclusions with regard to the
foregoing and our review of the entire record in this
case , we observe at the outset that all eight of the
facilities here involved are operated by the Employer
under contracts with airlines for the food-catering
services involved . Also, all eight of these facilities are
within the same regional subdivision of the Employ-
er's airline catering operations. Although there are
substantial differences between the kind of services
provided at the commissary kitchens and the
terminal facilities , there are at the same time
substantial similarities. Thus, there are employees at
both in common classifications engaged in the
preparation and handling of food under standards
set and enforced by airline representatives. More-
over, the operations of the two types of facilities are
integrated and closely controlled by the regional vice
president of operations and his staff. And the Shoppe
managers generally have minimal autonomy with
regard to personnel and labor relations matters. Also
indicative of the linkage of interests of employees at
all eight facilities is the fact that there is significant
temporary interchange of employees between the two
types of facilities. Finally, while not controlling as to
the unit issue here, the Employer has introduced
evidence that at a substantial number of airports
throughout the United States, including Kennedy,
other airline caterers now bargain with labor organi-
zations on the basis of units combining employees of
commissary kitchens and airport terminal facilities.
On the basis of all these factors, we conclude that the
Petitioner's requested unit must be broadened to
include employees at the Employer's terminal facili-
ties at Kennedy and LaGuardia. The appropriate
unit herein is therefore modified as follows:
All employees employed by the Employer at its
commissary kitchens and terminal facilities
(Shoppes 370.01, 370.02, 371, 374, 375, 376, 377,
and 344) servicing airlines operating at John F.
Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia
Airport in the Borough of Queens, New York
City, New York, excluding all office clerical
employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in
the Act.
480 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Accordingly, we shall remand the case to the period for determining eligibility therefor shall be the
Regional Director in order that he may conduct an date of this Decision.
election pursuant to his Decision and Direction of [Excelsior footnote omitted from publication.]
Election, as modified herein,5 except that the payroll
5 In the event the Petitioner does not wish to proceed to an election in size than that petitioned for, the Petitioner shall be provided with an
the unit found appropriate herein , it shall so notify the Regional Director opportunity to submit , within 10 days of this Decision , additional showing
for Region 29 by written notice within 7 days of the date of issuance of this of interest to support an election in the enlarged unit.
Decision . Further , as the unit found appropriate is substantially larger in