News

Labor board ruling paves way for pizza drivers unions

October 27, 2004

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The National Labor Relations Board ruled Oct. 25 that pizza drivers, as a group, constitute a bargaining unit separate from a pizza shop's other employees.

According the Web site of the Association of Pizza Delivery Drivers, NLRB regional director Fredick J. Calatrello's ruling was in response to a Pizza Hut franchisee's challenge to an employee's efforts to unionize the shop's drivers. The Sunbury, Ohio, pizzeria is operated by franchisee owners, Hallrich Inc., who argued driver Matthew Howard could not move to unionize the drivers unless a majority of the pizzeria's other employees agreed to be included in the effort.

Calatrello disagreed, saying the dissimilarities in the roles of delivery drivers and other employees eliminated the need for non-driver inclusion.

"The delivery drivers' principal duties and required skills are those associated with driving, and are wholly different from those required of other employees," the ruling read. "Because they spend the majority of their time on the road, their contact with other employees is limited."

APDD expects the ruling to ease the unionizing process by allowing organizers to solicit membership from a much smaller, drivers-only group.

Delivery drivers at the Sunbury store soon are expected to vote by secret ballot whether to organize into a local union. At least a simple majority (51 percent) is required for the movement to go forward.

APDD members could not be reached for comment before press time.