New Rule to Benefit Rail, Plane Unions

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NOVEMBER 3, 2009

New Rule to Benefit Rail, Plane Unions

By MIKE ESTERL and MELANIE TROTTMAN
WSJ

Organized labor appears to be gaining the upper hand in the skies and on rails, as labor and business battle for influence under the Obama administration. The National Mediation Board wants to make it easier for thousands of airline and railway workers to unionize under the Railway Labor Act by seeking to junk a 75-year-old election rule, according to a proposal published Monday in the Federal Register. The move comes after a White House appointment shifted the balance of the government agency's three-person board. Linda Puchala, a former flight attendant union leader, was selected to replace Read Van de Water, a former Northwest Airlines lobbyist, earlier this year. She joined Harry Hoglander, a former pilots union leader appointed in 2002. The NMB regulates labor relations in aviation and rail.

More than 570,000 workers are employed by railroads and airlines, more than two-thirds of whom already are unionized. But changes to the election rules could affect thousands more workers. Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's largest airline, and Continental Airlines Inc. are awaiting unionization votes that would affect about 40,000 workers. The new policy could mark a significant victory for unions. Under an interpretation of the Railway Labor Act dating to 1934, aviation and rail workers who don't vote on whether to create a union are counted as "no" votes. That means a union cannot be approved without a full majority of all employees voting yes. Under the National Labor Relations Act governing other industries, a union can be created as long as a majority of all votes cast are in favor of collective bargaining. In such elections, nonvotes don't count.

Under the proposal made public Monday, which is subject to a 60-day comment period, the NMB would tally votes for air and rail workers in the same way as those other industries. "Few if any" democratic elections treat nonvotes as no votes, the NMB said in the proposal. Railways, and airlines such as Delta and Continental, strongly oppose the measure. The Air Transport Association, an umbrella group for airlines, said Monday that Congress, not the NMB, has the authority to overhaul the rule. In a letter Monday to more than a dozen Republican senators, NMB board member Elizabeth Dougherty said the process used by her two colleagues to draft the proposal was "flawed" and that she had been frozen out of deliberations.

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Mr. Obama named a longtime labor activist, former California Rep. Hilda Solis, to head the Department of Labor. Ms. Solis has stepped up regulatory enforcement on a wide range of issues, including workplace safety. On Friday, the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued its highest fine ever for a safety violation, an $87.4 million penalty against BP PLC, more than four times the previously highest fine. BP said it would appeal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125717320337922853.html (subscription)

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A4