Labor/Employment

The transportation sector added 7,000 jobs in July as the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3 percent.

Statistics released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed an increase of 163,000 jobs in the month. The report showed employment in the transportation sector increased from 4,369,800 in June to 4,376,700 last month.

The transportation employment numbers for June were adjusted down from an initial report of 4,371,100 last month.

The American Federation of Government Employees union said Thursday that it had reached an agreement with the Transportation Security Administration to represent its nearly 50,000 employees.

The AFGE won the right to represent TSA over the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) in an election held in June.

The union said Thursday that it had finalized a "historic" labor agreement with TSA, providing the airport security agency's workers with collective bargain for the first time.

“For 10 long years AFGE has fought hard so that Transportation Security Officers would have collective bargaining rights," AFGE President John Gage said in a statement. "We have often looked back and wondered why it was taking so long. Today we begin to look forward.”

Airlines employed almost 6,000 more people in May 2012 than they did in May of last year, according to statistics released by the Department of Transportation.

The DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said that U.S. airlines had 390,957 full-time employees this May, up from 384,974 in May 2011.

The BTS said the 1.6 percent increase was down from the rate of employment growth in the airline industry in the first half of 2011, but was still a part of an overall trend of increased employment in the industry since 2008.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday that the rail industry would hire 5,000 veterans as part of the the Obama administration's military employment push.

LaHood held a conference call with the Association of America Railroads (AAR), which represents both freight rail companies and Amtrak, to announce the veteran hiring initiative.

He said in a statement that it was only logical to use returning military members' skills on the national rail system.

"As a result of their service, veterans have the right skills and training for successful careers in transportation,” LaHood said. “Helping our veterans find work strengthening America’s transportation system is a commitment we are proud to fulfill.”

The transportation industry lost about 2,000 jobs in the month of June as lawmakers labored to approve a $105 billion highway bill last month.

Statistics released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed the U.S. economy added only 80,000 jobs in June, but employment in the transportation sector declined slightly from 4.373 million in May to 4,371,100 last month.

The transportation-sector employment numbers were up from 4.298 million in June of 2011.

The nation's largest labor federation is calling on the National Mediation Board to step into a fight between pilots and United Airlines.

United is still trying to navigate a 2010 merger with Continental Airlines, and the AFL-CIO said Monday that the National Mediation Board should force the airline to conclude negotiations about a new labor contract with pilots from both of the combined airlines.

"The Railway Labor Act has triggers that can help negotiations progress, of which one of these is the National Mediation Board," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka wrote in a letter to NMB Chairwoman Linda Puchala.

"But without definitive timelines, negotiations can go on endlessly for years, and this has been the case for many U.S. carriers," he continued. "We believe that the United and Continental pilots have suffered under their deeply concessionary contract for long enough — it is time for definitive action." 

Sen. Lindsey Graham will introduce legislation to stop an NLRB ruling that could allow unions to form smaller bargaining units.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and a pair of House Democrats called Friday for a union fight at American Airlines to be resolved.

Democrats have begun rallying around the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in its efforts to set up a labor election at the airline, which is in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings.

American filed a lawsuit against the National Mediation Board (NMB) earlier this month that objected to the union election, but Pelosi and Reps. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and George Miller (D-Calif.) said Friday that the vote should move forward as scheduled.

"This is no small matter," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to American CEO Thomas Horton. "The company's refusal to comply with the National Mediation Board's order, which calls for a fair and free election among American Airlines' passenger service workers, effectively denies nearly 10,000 Americans the right to vote in an election." 

The transportation sector added 36,000 jobs in May, despite an overall increase in the national unemployment rate to 8.2 percent.

Democratic lawmakers have waded into what's becoming a messy union organizing battle at American Airlines.