House Republicans, Delta Move to Overturn Fair Election Rules for Air and Rail Workers
The battle over workers’ rights moves from state capitols to Capitol Hill next week when House Republicans will try to repeal rules that guarantee fair and democratic elections for workers who want to form unions.
The House is set vote on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill with a provision that would repeal last year’s new rule by the National Mediation Board (NMB) that says air and rail elections should be decided just like any other election—including congressional elections—by a majority of votes cast.
Previously under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), which covers rail and airline workers, each worker who did not cast a vote in a representation election was automatically counted as a “No” vote.
Republicans and their corporate partners in the transportation industry fought to block the NMB rule through the courts and with a Senate bill last year. They are now mounting a campaign to overturn it through the FAA bill and Delta Airlines is leading the way, reports Brian Beutler on Talking Points Memo.
Now, sources say, a similar fight is likely to play out on the House floor, and anti-union employees at Delta Airlines are preparing to fly to Washington to join the fight. Read the rest of this entry »
Delta Flight Attendants Union Vote Begins Today
More than 20,000 flight attendants at Delta and Northwest Airlines began voting today on forming a union with the Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA).
As in past campaigns, Delta is running an anti-union drive with fear and misinformation as the focus. But this time, the situation is different. Delta’s 2008 merger with Northwest brought in some 7,000 attendants who are already union members.
What‘s more, this election,which runs through Nov. 3,will be conducted under the National Mediation Board’s new democratic election rules that allow a majority of votes cast to decide the outcome. Under the old rules, if you did not vote, it was counted as a “No.’
”Finally our voice will be heard and fully respected under strong democratic procedures, the same way that other elections are decided in our country,” flight attendant Toni Weinfurtner says.
We are excited for the opportunity to negotiate an industry-leading contract and continue to work alongside management in building a world class airline. Delta and Northwest flight attendants have waited a long time for this day and are eager to move forward.
Last week, Senate Republicans failed to overturn the new rules. For more information and the latest news on the campaign, visit www.deltaafa.org.
Delta Flight Attendants: We’ve Lost that Family Feeling
At the Delta Airlines website, CEO Richard Anderson boasts that the company is “firmly committed to our environment, safety and social responsibility.”
But some long-time Delta employees say the carrier has forgotten its repsonibilities to its workers.
Marianne Bricksler is among them. Bricksler, who has worked for Delta for 23 years, says:
The company has had five different CEOs since I started working here. The falsehood that they would take care of us [is true] just as long as they’re here. We have to take them at their word and I don’t think I can take them for their word [anymore].
For Air, Rail Workers, NMB Rule Means ‘Democracy’
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A new rule issued this morning by the National Mediation Board (NMB) means airline and rail workers will now be able to choose whether to join a union under rules that are more fair and more in line with democratic principles.
For decades, the deck has been stacked against workers covered under the Rail Labor Act (RLA) because every worker who did not cast a vote in a representation election was automatically counted as a “No” vote. The new NMB rule says that an election’s outcome will be decided by the majority of votes cast, just like every other election, from city council to the presidency.
Patricia Friend, president of the Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), says that flight attendants and other aviation and rail workers “have faced significant obstacles in their quest for collective bargaining rights.”
Transportation Workers Face ‘Undemocratic Process’ When Seeking Union
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If a worker in the airline or rail industry doesn’t cast a ballot in a union election, under the rules of the Railway Labor Act (RLA) that nonaction is automatically counted as a “no” vote.
Last week, the National Mediation Board (NMB) held a hearing on a proposed new rule that would stop the automatic “veto by silence” and permit a majority of workers who actually vote to decide the union election.
Flight attendants, union officials and labor experts explain the need for change in a new video report from DELTAAFA, the flight attendants group that is working to win a voice for the Delta Air Lines and former Northwest Airlines flight attendants who make up the merged Delta.
Mediation Board Proposes Changes to Democratize Union Elections at Airlines, Rail
Bt a 2-to-1 margin, the National Mediation Board (NMB) says it’s time to bring democracy and majority rule to rail and airline workers voting whether to join a union.
The NMB today proposed changes to airline and rail election rules to mirror the rules that govern every other democratic election—the outcome is decided by the side that receives the majority of votes cast. Under current rules, every worker who does not cast a vote is counted as a vote against forming a union.
Edward Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD), says the NMB’s proposed changes are “fair and sensible.”
The deck is currently stacked against airline and railroad workers. The NMB is proposing new rules that would finally permit airline and rail workers to vote for unions under the same standards found everywhere else in our system of democracy. With this change, never again will workers in these industries seeking to form a union be thwarted by such un-democratic rules.
