NLRB strikes down presumption of wall to wall bargaining units

The National Labor Relations Board has extended its Specialty Healthcare (download here) bargaining unit rationale to a non-healthcare setting. In DTG Operations, Inc. (download here) the union petitioned for a unit of 31 rental service agents (RSA's) and lead agents (LRSA's) at an airport rental car facility. The Regional Director found the smallest appropriate unit was a "wall-to-wall" unit of "all 109 of employer's hourly employees." Because the union refused to go forward in the smaller unit, the RD dismissed the petition. In reversing the RD, the Board found the RSA's and the LRSA's shared a community of interests among themselves, but do not share an "overwhelming community of interests with the other hourly employees. This decision likely means the current Board will permit elections in small units which historically would not have been appropriate for collective bargaining. A labor organization can engage in piece-meal organizing, picking and choosing small groups of employees rather than undertaking an overall facility-wide effort. Advantage organized labor.