City of Oakland Ex Rel. Board of Port Commissioners v. United Public Employees, Local 390

The City of Oakland (City), acting by and through its Board of Port Commissioners, appeals from a judgment confirming an award made in a labor arbitration proceeding between appellant and respondent United Public Employees. We affirm.

For several years, appellant, through the Port of Oakland (the Port), provided an airline information and reservation service at the Oakland International Airport known as “Fly Oakland.” Under this program, Port employees responded to telephone inquiries from the general public for flight information and airline reservations; information was given out, and requests for reservations were forwarded to the individual airlines, which then issued tickets and received payments therefor. In or about June or July 1981, the Port management decided to discontinue the “Fly Oakland” service for budgetary reasons. On August 17, 1982, the Port terminated the service, effective August 31, 1982. Simultaneously, it entered into a lease agreement with a private travel agency to operate at the Oakland Airport as the “Fly Oakland Travel Service.” This private travel agency was “full service,” unlike the former Port-operated “Fly Oakland” service; that is, it…