Trans World Airlines, Inc.

TRANS WORLD AIRLINES, INC. 733 Trans World Airlines, Inc. and District Lodge No. 166, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 12-RC-4284 June 19, 1974 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS By CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS FANNING AND JENKINS Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Mary Lee Meder. Following the hearing and pursuant to Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the Regional Director for Region 12 issued an order transferring the case to the Board for decision. Subsequent to the hearing, the Employer filed its brief with the Board. 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: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein. The Employer questions whether jurisdiction over these employees would not more appropriately lie with the National Mediation Board via coverage of the Railway Labor Act.' The record clearly shows, and we find, that all of the employees involved herein work at the Employer's Visitors Information Center located at the Cape Canaveral Space Center2 in Florida where they are engaged in providing various support services for visitor tours of the Space Center. It is also evident that the employees sought by the Petitioner are in no way engaged in activity involving airline transportation functions. Where a group of employees are involved in work which would normally be covered by the National Labor Relations Act, the mere fact that the employer is one within the definitional sweep of the Railway Labor Act will not serve to bar this Board's jurisdiction. There must be a more direct connection between the 1 45 U .S.C. 151, et seq. 2 Cape Kennedy has been renamed since the petition was filed. We will refer to it by its current name. 3 Pan American World Airways, Inc. v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, 324 F.2d 217 (C.A. 9), cert, denied 376 U.S. 964. Moreover, it is noted that as of April 1, 1974, the operation of the employees and the transportation function so as to warrant the special considerations for which Con- gress enacted the Railway Labor Act .3 Consequently, we have concluded that we have jurisdiction over this proceeding4 and that our jurisdiction is properly invoked. 2. The Petitioner is a labor organization within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concern- ing the representation of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of all unrepresented employees of the Employer providing support serv- ices for tours of the Cape Canaveral Space Center at the Employer's Visitor Information Center.5 The parties were able to agree that sales agents, service agents (all types), mail order agents, cashiers, ticket agents, reservation agents, parking service agents, terminal agents, commentator escorts, presentation specialists, exhibit specialists, exhibit technicians, and the senior clerk typist all belonged in the unit. The parties further agreed, and we find, that the project manager, manager-public awareness, supervi- sor-purchasing, supervisor-accounting, manager-visi- tor services, manager-business administration, super- visor-visitor support services, and supervisor-inter- pretive services were properly excluded from the unit as supervisors. Also, in accordance with the agree- ment of the parties, we exclude the senior accountant "B," the accountant "B," the senior secretary to the project manager, the secretary to the public aware- ness manager, and the secretary to the manager of visitor services as office clerical employees. Alleged Supervisors The Petitioner questions the supervisory status of the five chief classifications,6 arguing that they are leadmen and should be included in the unit. We disagree and exclude these individuals as supervisors. The record indicates that they direct work of the people in their section, including the scheduling of work activity on a daily basis, vacations or other time off, and the scheduling of overtime work. They review the work of people under them and recom- mend promotions. They also have authority to discipline employees, including firing, when neces- sary. Finally, they attend and participate in manage- ment meetings and receive the same rate of pay and employment fringe benefits as do acknowledged Visitor Information Center was transfered by Trans World to a subsidiary corporation outside the airline industry. 5 This does not include the bus tour operations which have been subcontracted out. 6 Chief, tour sales services; chief, tour services; chief, tour sales food; chief, terminal operations ; and chief, lecture program. 211 NLRB No. 99 734 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD management personnel. In view of these facts, we have concluded that they are supervisors within the meaning of the Act and must be excluded. Alleged Professional and Managerial Employees The Employer would exclude the space science lecturers on the basis that they are professional employees. The record discloses that these employees must meet special education and experience specifi- cations imposed by NASA, and that they must have college degrees with several years of teaching and curriculum development experience. Once hired, they are assigned the task of lecturing to adult and other educational tour groups on the NASA pro- grams. They are also assigned the task of teaching the commentator-escorts about the overall space program and training these escorts to be more effective guides. In view of the teaching character of the work performed, in addition to the academic training and other "knowledge of an advanced type" required, we conclude that these employees are professionals. The Employer would exclude the staff assistant inventory class employees because they allegedly have access to sensitive price information. The record discloses that while these employees are responsible for the maintenance of the proper food and souvenir inventory and are the first step in the supply reordering process, they are, in fact, super- vised and considered nonmanagerial employees. They lack authority independently to negotiate the selling price of an item with different vendors and they appear to play no role in the setting of either the selling or the purchase price. Hence, the price information they possess is of a rather general nature. These individuals are also used, where needed, as sales agents, a position clearly within the unit, and appear to work in the same area as the other employees in the unit. Finally, their rate of pay, mode of payment, and the general terms and conditions of work show them to have the same community of interest with the other employees already included in the unit and we include them. The Employer would exclude the material special- ist, as a professional or technical, and also exclude as office clericals the secretary to the manager of business administration and the secretary to the supervisor of visitor support services. These positions are currently open and there is no indication by the Employer that it contemplates filling them in the near future. We will therefore adhere to our policy of not passing on open classifications.? The Employer would also exclude as an office clerical the receptionist/procurement records con- trol. In addition to the duties of meeting and routing people, the receptionist also does typing of reports and letters while working with the excluded office clericals. Additionally, when the need for a tempo- rary or replacement receptionist arises, one of the office clericals is assigned the task. To us this indicates that the receptionist has a closer-communi- ty of interest with the excluded office clericals than with the employees who are in the unit and, accordingly, we shall exclude her. The Petitioner would exclude and the Employer include the categories of stores clerks and fleet service helpers who at the time the petition was filed were covered by a separate contract between the Employer and a sister local of the Petitioner. Although these employees appear to have a close community of interest with the employees herein sought by the Petitioner, it is our general policy not to make unit findings which would have the effect of disturbing an established bargaining relationship.8 However,' on the basis of the evidence before us, there is no way of determining whether or not this existing bargaining relationship has continued and is in effect at the present time. The collective-bargain- ing agreement upon which the relationship was based by its terms expired on August 31, 1973 and without specific information, we would not, in the circum- stances of this case, presume that the bargaining relationship is continuing. Accordingly, we shall at this time make no determination as to the unit placement of these individuals, but allow them to vote subject to challenge and, if necessary, determine their unit status in a subsequent proceeding. Temporary Employees The Petitioner and Employer agree and we find that the full-time employees and the regular part- time employees belong in the unit and are entitled to vote. However, there is a large body of temporary employees, who work more or less on a seasonal basis during the busy holiday periods, about whom the parties were unable to agree. The record discloses that this block of employees plays a significant part in the Employer's operation of the Visitor Informa- tion Center. They are employed on a continuing basis throughout most of the year, though no one temporary employee may, by the Employer's defini- tion, work for a period exceeding 120 days. These employees are also the Employer's primary source when replacing its regular part-time or full-time employees. Additionally, it is the temporaries em- Sigman Food Stores #27, 113 NLRB 689 (1955). s The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc., 153 NLRB 159 (1965) TRANS WORLD AIRLINES, INC. ployed in the preceding season that the Employer first seeks to hire when it increases its staff for the following season. That the Employer encourages, indeed counts on, the return of previously hired temporaries is apparent from the fact that when a temporary returns for the third time his salary is increased to equal the rate of pay of the full-time employee in a comparable job. It is these employees, the ones who return and show a willingness to be rehired, that should be included in the unit. Anyone who continues to return to work and is paid at the same rate as the full-time employees has a reasonable expectation of reemployment in the foreseeable future and thus has a community of interest with the regular part-time and full-time employees. Accord- ingly, any temporary who has been employed on a minimum of three occasions since January 1972, or is currently employed for the third time and is receiving the regular rate of pay for the salary grade in which he or she has been employed, and who has not otherwise been discharged for cause, will be included in the unit and eligible to vote. B The fleet service and stores clerks employees , should any appear at the polls, will be permitted to vote subject to challenge. 10 If the Union desires to represent the professional employees in a 735 We shall direct separate elections in the following voting groups: (a) All employees of the Employer providing support services for the tours of NASA, including ticket and food sales agents, cashiers, commenta- tor/escorts, presentation specialists, service agents, parking service agents, mail order agents, terminal agents, reservation agents, exhibit specialists, exhibit technicians, senior clerk typist, regular part-time temporary employees as described above, and the staff inventory assistants employed at the Cape Canaveral Space Center, excluding office clericals, space science lecturers, and supervisors as defined in the Act .9 (b) The space science lecturers, excluding all other employees and supervisors as defined in the Act. We find either of these groups, or both together, constitutes an appropriate unit.10 [Direction of Elections and Excelsior footnote omitted from publication.] separate unit, it shall be given the opportunity to amend its petition and to submit an appropriate showing of interest.