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Union: 'We can live within' labor rules in FAA funding compromise
The compromise on labor rules for transportation workers contained within the deal to approve a long-term extension of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration is acceptable to at least one key union, officials with the group said Monday.
Lawmakers agreed to a deal last week on the rules for workers covered under the Railway Labor Act, which includes some airline workers, to organize unions after fractious negotiations held up a multi-year funding bill for the FAA for the better part of a year.
Under the agreement, the percentage of a company's workforce that would have to be in favor of a vote on unionization changed to 50 percent from 35 percent before an election could be called.
The Washington, D.C.-based Transport Workers Union said it would be OK with the new rules if it meant ending the string of short-term extensions of the funding for the FAA, which is expected to reach 23 this week as lawmakers iron out the final details over their compromise. The agency's current short-term funding measure had been expected to run out Jan. 31.
Little pointed out that the TWU has won union elections with greater percentages than the new 50 percent threshold.
“We can live within those rules,” he said. “In our most recent successful organization campaign, with flight attendants at Allegiant Air, we filed with an overwhelming majority, and won the election with 63 percent of the vote.”
Little added that long-term funding for the FAA “is essential to guaranteeing crucial safety inspections, upgrading of our nation’s airports, and safety and security for airline passengers and employees.”
The impasse over the FAA funding, which briefly led to the agency being shut down last summer, began when House Republicans sought to reverse labor election rules enacted in 2009 by the National Mediation Board to ensure absentee votes were not counted as votes against forming a union. Senate Democrats balked, calling the provision anti-democratic, and House Republicans dug in their heels.
Little said Monday the labor board, which came under heavy fire from Republicans, "made the right move by changing the rules.
“The old system was just plain undemocratic,” he said. “If it applied to national elections, not a single member of Congress would be seated, because all the voters who stayed home would be counted as voting against them.”
"We’re glad this compromise rejects Delta’s effort to undermine union democracy," Little continued. "Majority rule is the standard used to decide elections in jurisdictions all across America.”
The House is expected to vote on extending the FAA's funding through the end of February this week.
