Monday, Nov. 29, 2010 | 5:49 p.m.
A second employee group at Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air has filed for union representation with the National Mediation Board.
The filing from dispatchers on Monday comes a day before flight attendants begin voting on a proposal to be represented by the Transport Workers Union.
A spokeswoman for Allegiant said the company hasn’t officially been notified of the filing, which also was made by the TWU.
“While Allegiant hasn’t officially been notified by the NMB of this filing yet, we do respect the right of our 13 dispatchers to seek representation, though Allegiant believes it is in the best interest of its employees to maintain a direct relationship with company management,” said spokeswoman Jordan McGee.
Flight attendants are scheduled to begin voting by telephone and by Internet Tuesday on union representation. Votes will be tabulated Dec. 22.
Allegiant has about 420 flight attendants based across the country.
“We’re going to support flight attendants and dispatchers at Allegiant Air in every way we can, to help them gain a seat at the table with management,” TWU Organizing Director Frank McCann said in a release announcing today’s filing.
Dispatchers, which are certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, serve as a pilot’s eyes and ears on the ground. They plan and monitor all flights and keep crews apprised of changes in weather, navigational aids or airport conditions while the plane is in the air.
The NMB supervises union representation elections at commercial airlines and railroads.
Union officials have said the Allegiant vote would be among the first under new procedures approved by the NMB which specify that elections would be decided by a simple majority of those voting. In the past, a worker who did not vote was counted as a “no.”
The TWU represents an estimated 200,000 workers and retirees in aviation, public transportation and passenger railroads, including 9,400 flight attendants at Dallas-based Southwest Airlines.
Southwest flight attendants are acknowledged as among the best paid in the airline industry.
The Southwest’s TWU Local 556 is expected to grow by 2,200 through the airline’s acquisition of AirTran.
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