Skyway Aviation, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 14, 1971

194 N.L.R.B. 555 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

SKYWAY AVIATION, INC. 555
Skyway Aviation , Inc. and General Teamsters, Chauf-
feurs, Warehousemen and Helpers , Local 864,
affiliated with International Brotherhood of Team-
sters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of
America, Petitioner . Case 17-RC-6673
December 14, 1971
DECISION AND ORDER
BY MEMBERS FANNING, JENKINS, AND
KENNEDY
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing
was held before Hearing Officer W. R. Carter at
Waynesville, Missouri. Following the hearing and
pursuant to Section 102.67 of the Board's Rules and
Regulations and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as
amended, the Regional Director for Region 17
transferred this case to the Board for decision. Neither
of the parties filed a brief. -
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 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:
The Employer, a Missouri corporation, has its main
office at Fortney Airfield at Fort Leonard Wood,
Missouri. It also has facilities at airports in Vichy,
Columbia, and Kaiser, Missouri. At these various
locations, the Employer is engaged in air taxi, charter,
and on-demand and scheduled airline services plus
refueling and maintenance work. Additionally, the
Employer operates a car rental service at the four
locations, either as a franchisee or a subfranchisee,
and it operates a pilot training school for ROTC
students at Columbia.
The parties are in agreement that a unit of all
linemen and mechanics at the Employer's installa-
tions at Fort Leonard Wood, Vichy, Columbia, and
Kaiser, Missouri, excluding pilots, office clerical
employees, professional employees, guards and super-
visors as defined in the Act would be an appropriate
unit.' However, the Employer contends that it is a
common carrier by air engaged in interstate and
foreign commerce within the meaning of the Railway
Labor Act,2 that its operations and employees are
covered by the provisions of that Act, and that this
Board is therefore without jurisdiction. The Petitioner
takes no position with regard to this contention.
Presently, the Employer, which owns 13 single and
multiengine planes, has an operating certificate issued
by the Federal Aviation Administration which gives it
the authority to operate an air taxi service anywhere
within the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The
Employer has a number of scheduled daily flights to
and from the aforementioned four cities in Missouri
and Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri. It also
maintains ticket counters at the airports in Kansas
City and St. Louis. The Employer also has an air
agency certificate from the Federal Aviation Admin-
istration which authorizes it to do repair work on
airframes and power plants, and other specialized
services approved by the Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration.
Although most of the Employer's scheduled flights
operate within Missouri solely, these flights are often
used as link-ups by persons coming from outside the
State on other airlines. Hence, it is possible for a
person who is in another State to purchase, while in
that State, a ticket on a flight into Missouri and a
continuing flight on the Employer's airline to one of
the four Missouri cities it services.
For the fiscal year ending March 31, 1971, the
Employer's gross volume of business amounted to
approximately $1.5 million. Of that amount, approxi-
mately 55 percent was from the sale of tickets for
scheduled flights, 22 percent was from charter flights,
and 16 percent was from the sale of gas and oil. The
balance came from car rentals, flight school instruc-
tion, hangar merchandise sales, and freight ship-
ments.
Because of the nature of the jurisdictional question
presented here, we have, as in other cases in the past,3
requested the National Mediation Board to study the
record in this case and determine the applicability of
the Railway Labor Act to the Employer. In the
present case, we are administratively advised by the
National Mediation Board that:
The [National Mediation] Board has carefully
reviewed the facts as transmitted and is of the
opinion that Skyway Aviation, Inc., by virtue of its
interline ticketing agreements or practices meets
the definition of common carrier by air as set forth
in Section 201, Title II, of the Railway Labor Act;
consequently there is sufficient basis for this Board
to exercise jurisdiction over the employer and its
employees.
1 However, the Petitioner, contrary to the Employer, would exclude commerce . . and every air pilot or other person who performs any work
from the unit a part-time employee or lineman at Fort Leonard Wood , who as an employee ... of such career..
works 20-30 hours weekly . 3 Tri-State Aero, Inc., 180 NLRB No. 9; International Aviation Services
2 Title 11, sec. 201, of the Railway Labor Act extends the coverage of of New York Inc, 189 NLRB No. 15.
that act to "every common carrier by air engaged in interstate or foreign
194 NLRB No. 97
556 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
In view of the foregoing, we shall dismiss the ORDER
petition.
It is hereby ordered that the petition in Case
17-RC-6673 be, and it hereby is, dismissed.