Voyager 1000

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 4, 1973

202 N.L.R.B. 901 (N.L.R.B. 1973)

VOYAGER 1000
Voyager 1000 , a Corporation and International Associ-
ation of Machinists and Aerospace Workers,
AFL,CIO, Petitioner . Case 25-RC-4780
April 4, 1973
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS
FANNING 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 Frederick
G. Winkler. Following the hearing, this case was
transferred to the National Labor Relations Board in
Washington, D.C., pursuant to Section 102.67 of the
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as
amended.
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, Voyager 1000, an Indiana corpora-
tion with its principal place of business in Indianapo-
lis, Indiana, is engaged in furnishing air travel service
to members of its organization. As an air travel club,
the Employer has about 15,000 member families
(representing about 45,000 people) each of which
pays an initiation fee and monthly membership fees.
The Employer has six aircraft, either owned outright
or under lease-purchase agreements, which are
maintained at its Indianapolis facility. Voyager
flights, most of which originate in Indianapolis and
are destined for various points throughout the
United States, are scheduled a year in advance. The
Employer does not sell tickets for any airlines, and it
does not carry any mail or freight.
i Title II of the Railway Labor Act extends the coverage of that Act to
"every common carrier by air engaged in interstate or foreign commerce
and every air pilot or other person who performs any work as an
901
The Employer does in excess of $500,000 business
annually. The duties of the mechanics and related
employees sought by the Petitioner includes work in
connection with the Employer's aircraft. The Em-
ployer moves for dismissal of the petition on the
ground that it is a common carrier by air engaged in
interstate commerce within the meaning of the
Railway Labor Act,' and that this Board is therefore
without jurisdiction.
Because of the nature of the question presented
here, we requested, as we have in other cases in the
past,2 the National Mediation Board (as the agency
primarily vested with jurisdiction, under the Railway
Labor Act, over air carriers, and having primary
authority to determine its own jurisdiction) to study
the record in this case and determine the applicabili-
ty of the Railway Labor Act to the Employer. We are
administratively advised by the National Mediation
Board, under date of March 7, 1973, that:
It is the opinion of the National Mediation Board,
in view of the Civil Aeronautics Board's proceed-
ing in Docket No. 23991 and further supported by
our review of the transcript and exhibits compiled
in NLRB Case No. 25-RC-4780, that the
activities of Voyager 1000 fall within the jurisdic-
tional ambit of Title II of the Railway Labor Act.
Therefore, the National Mediation Board has
docketed the application of the International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Work-
ers involving mechanics and related employees of
Voyager 1000, and it is the National Mediation
Board's intent to process this application for the
investigation of a representation dispute as
expeditiously as possible.
In view of the foregoing, we shall dismiss the
petition in its entirety.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition in Case
25-RC-4780 be, and it hereby is, dismissed in its
entirety.
employee of such carrier
2 See, eg , Lynch Flying Service, Inc, 166 NLRB 961, and cases cited
therein
202 NLRB No. 132