Labor/Employment

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has joined a court challenge against President Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The Chamber, along with the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, has filed a motion for leave to intervene in a case involving Noel Canning, a contract canning and bottling division of the Noel Corp. The business, based in Yakima, Wash., was involved in a dispute with a local Teamsters union, and the NLRB last month ruled Noel Canning violated the National Labor Relations Act.

Congress is under pressure from an unusually wide range of industries and groups to pass a spending bill for transportation.

Legislative efforts to combat driver fatigue have become a huge issue for bus operators and companies.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

A New York Democratic lawmaker called the $260 billion transportation measure being considered by the House a "train wreck" on The Hill's Congress Blog.

Sen. Daniel Ino­uye (D-Hawaii) is basing his support for candidates running for Honolulu mayor on their positions on a rail project there.

A strike by workers at Frankfurt, Germany's, airport is continuing until Friday.

Nevada has approved "self-driving" automobiles on its roads.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

A woman is accusing the Transportation Security Administration of re-scanning her at airport security because employees thought she was "cute."

Workers at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, have gone on strike over their pay and working conditions.

Amtrak is celebrating its first high-speed railway outside of the Northeast.

Baltimore-Washington's Thurgood Marshall International Airport set a passenger record in 2011.

The United Auto Workers has endorsed Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) in his primary battle against Rep. Hansen Clark (D-Mich.).

Peters's district was dismantled when Michigan redrew its congressional maps, forcing Peters to square off against a fellow incumbent if he wanted a chance to keep his seat in the House.

Peters and Clark will face each other in an Aug. 7 primary.

The backing of the union, a major player in Michigan Democratic politics, will likely help Peters make his case to blue-collar voters, and follows other endorsements including those from about a dozen other state and local unions.

"Gary Peters has shown tremendous leadership and courage by leading the fight for the automotive industry, including his work to secure the auto loans which saved over a million American automotive jobs,” said Chuck Hall, who directs the union's Detroit-area branch.

Republicans looked to smooth a major House transportation bill's passage over objections from the right and left.

Taking a cue from Republican presidential candidates, President Obama will visit one of airplane manufacturer Boeing's plants that was the focus of the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) complaint against the company.

But unlike Republicans, who visited Boeing's plant in Charleston, S.C., after the NLRB's allegation the company built a facility there in retaliation for strikes by workers at its existing facilities, Obama will visit Boeing's plant in Washington state Friday.

The NLRB's case against Boeing, which has been dropped, sparked a national debate regarding labor unions. 

A pair of unions said Friday they would enter into a partnership to more effectively bargain for transportation workers.

The partnership, between the parent group of the union for flight attendants and a union that represents airline, transit and rail workers, comes on the heels of Congress approving a funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration that some said they could live with and others strongly opposed.

But the Washington-based Communication Workers Association and Transit Workers Union said they would be more effective at lobbying lawmakers if they worked together.

The bill increases from 35 percent to 50 percent the workers who must favor unionization for a vote to happen.