Marriott Corp.

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National Labor Relations Board Decisions as 192 NLRB 379 However, by telegraphic order dated August 26, 1971, the Board rescinded its Decision and Direction of Elections in that case, thus rendering moot a request for reconsideration thereof, and the Regional Director subsequently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