U.S. airlines sued the National Mediation Board May 17 to stop enforcement of a landmark change in labor law that could make it easier for unions to organize at rail and air carriers, reports Reuters.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., by the Air Transport Association, said the rule change, under which union-organizing elections would be decided on the number of votes cast, was unjustified and violated the law.
The previous rule, which dated back 75 years, required a majority of an entire work group to approve unionization, effectively counting those who don't vote as 'no' votes.
The National Mediation Board, which coordinates labor relations with airlines and rail companies under the Railway Labor Act, last week announced the new rule, which will take effect June 10.
The rule change was widely expected after the Obama administration gave the three-member board a Democratic majority last year.
The Air Transport Association said it would seek a hearing on a preliminary injunction prior to the effective date of the rule change. It also said it hopes to conclude the litigation over the next two months. Member companies that joined the ATA lawsuit include Delta Air Lines, package delivery giant FedEx, AirTran Airways, JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines.
The National Mediation Board "has offered no adequate or neutral justification for this sweeping rule change," the Air Transport Association complaint stated. It added the U.S. board did not follow proper procedures in changing the rule, and said the NMB also discriminated against workers' rights to reject unions by failing to include a decertification process in the new rule.
The rule change was requested in September by the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, which said union elections should be decided by those who vote.
(The preceding article was published May 18, 2010, by Reuters.)
Several of the nation's major airlines -- including Delta -- are mounting a huge legal battle against a new federal regulation that makes union elections for air and rail workers "more fair and democratic," Mike Hall writes on behalf of the AFL-CIO.
The Air Transport Association and 10 of the airline industry group's members filed suit in federal district court to block the National Mediation Board's (NMB) May 10 ruling that says air and rail union elections must be decided by a majority of votes cast.
An election that is decided by the majority of those who vote may sound like an obvious and common sense way to decide an election. But for years, the deck was stacked against aviation or rail workers in union representation elections, because they are covered by the Railway Labor Act (RLA). Until the NMB ruling, every worker who did not cast a vote in a representation election was automatically counted as a "No" vote.
Patricia Friend, president of the Flight Attendants-CWA, says the old rules, "fostered a unique culture of voter suppression," and that airlines and their outside union-busting companies engaged in the most undemocratic of practices by openly encouraging workers to destroy ballots and to not vote.
Ed Wytkind, President of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department (TTD), said the airlines' complaint "is baseless and should be dismissed." He says the airlines that are challenging the new rule are eager to retain the old system that was rigged against workers.
At Delta, AFA/CWA will file for an election when the new rule becomes effective next month. When Delta and Northwest merged in 2008, more than 7,000 Northwest AFA members lost their collective bargaining rights and the 20,000 flight attendants at Delta were in the midst of long battle to win a voice work.
Delta management mounted a massive anti-union campaign, including harassment, videotaping and threatening union activists, says the union.
Ground service workers at Delta are seeking representation with the Machinists (IAM). There are some 30,000 ramp workers and customer service agents at Delta, including about 10,000 from Northwest who were represented by the IAM.
The 10 airlines participating in the lawsuit are ABX Air, AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, ASTAR Air Cargo, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, Evergreen International Airlines, Federal Express, Hawaiian Airlines, and JetBlue Airways Corp.
(The preceding report by Mike Hall appeared on the Web site blog.aflcio.org on May 19, 2010.)
