ABM Onsite Services-West, Inc.

Portland, OR, November 14, 2018.  In this supplemental decision, the Board (Chairman Ring, Members Kaplan and Emanuel; Member McFerran, dissenting) deferred to the advisory opinion of the National Mediation Board (NMB) that the Employer and its employees at the Portland International Airport are subject to the Railway Labor Act (RLA).  In 2015, the Board asserted jurisdiction, certified the Union, and found that the Employer unlawfully refused to recognize and bargain with the Union in a test-of-certification case.  The D.C. Circuit Court subsequently remanded the case, finding that the NMB cases on which the Board relied in asserting jurisdiction represented an unexplained departure from longstanding NMB precedent.  The Board referred the case to the NMB and the NMB issued an advisory opinion, returning to its traditional six-factor carrier control test and stating its view that the Employer’s operations at the Portland International Airport are subject to the RLA.  Agreeing with the NMB’s determination, the Board dismissed the complaint and the petition and vacated the Union’s certification.  Dissenting, Member McFerran found that the NMB’s opinion was deficient under the Administrative Procedure Act.  Member McFerran would refer the case back to the NMB for it to provide a reasoned explanation for its decision to return to the traditional six-factor carrier control test. 

Charge and Petition filed by International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, District Lodge W24, AFL-CIO.  Chairman Ring and Members McFerran, Kaplan, and Emanuel participated.

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