Business & Tech
Teamsters Win Union Recognition For Fuelers At Newark Airport
Allied Aviation must recognize and bargain with a group of about 40 airport workers, NLRB says.
The Teamsters have won union recognition at Newark Airport… at least for some workers.
In a decision announced on Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered Allied Aviation Service Company of New Jersey to recognize and bargain with Local 553, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL–CIO, which represents a group of about 40 workers at the airport.
According to NLRB documents, Allied provides all of the fueling services at Newark Airport to each of its five terminals. Although United Airlines is the hub carrier at the airport, Allied provides fueling and ground services to Continental Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Jet Blue Airlines, Air Canada, US Air and 42 other commercial airlines.
Find out what's happening in Newarkfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The company oversees the dispensing of between two and three million gallons of fuel per day at Newark Airport, NLRB documents state.
Teamster representatives had alleged that Allied Aviation had refused to bargain in good faith with the fuel workers, despite the bargaining unit’s certification via election in 2013.
Find out what's happening in Newarkfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In 2014, the union sent a letter to Allied Aviation seeking recognition as the exclusive collective-bargaining unit for “all full-time and regular part-time fueling supervisors/dispatchers/operations supervisors, maintenance supervisors… and tank farm supervisors employed at [Allied’s] Newark Liberty International Airport location.”
The collective bargaining agreement didn’t include fuelers, mechanics, utility persons, tank farm persons, leads, office clerical employees, managers, guards and supervisors.
However, Allied Aviation subsequently “failed and refused to recognize and bargain with the union,” which constitutes “unfair labor practices,” the NLRB stated in Wednesday’s decision.
Allied has denied that it was in violation of the National Labor Relations Act throughout the process, and had argued that the bargaining unit was composed of employees with supervisory duties, which would exclude them from the federal labor law.
See the full board decision here.
Send local news tips and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
