Winging It: Proposed rule would ease airline unionization

The relationship between employers and unions is often contentious, but it seems to be even more so in the airline industry.

Dealings between airline labor and management could get even testier as a result of a proposed rule change by the National Mediation Board, the federal agency that referees airline and railroad labor disputes.

The new rule is likely to make it easier for airline or railroad employees to join a union by changing the voting rules in union representation elections. Currently, a majority of an entire work group, such as all flight attendants at an airline, must vote affirmatively for a union for it to be certified. If an employee doesn't vote, it's counted as a "no" vote.

The mediation board, or NMB, was established by Congress in 1934 as part of the Railway Labor Act, a law designed to prevent labor dissension or strikes from disrupting interstate commerce.

The three-member board, appointed by the president, oversees a process designed to prolong contract negotiations as long as needed to avoid a strike. Airline labor contracts don't expire but include a date when negotiations for a new one can begin.

Contract talks can last for years. Southwest Airlines and its pilots' union reached a new agreement two weeks ago after negotiating since 2006.

At US Airways, the pilots' union asked last week for federal mediation in its negotiations. The sides have been negotiating on a contract since 2005.

If a union and an airline cannot reach an agreement on their own, the NMB can be called in to mediate the dispute. If the parties still can't settle on a contract, the board can declare an impasse and start a 30-day "cooling off" period.

If there's still no deal after 30 days, both sides can seek "self help," meaning a union could strike and management could lock out a union and hire replacements. Even then, the president can intervene and force the two sides back together under the mediation board's auspices.

What has changed this year was the appointment to the board by President Obama of Linda Puchala, a former flight attendants' union leader and mediator for the board. She joined Harry Hoglander, a former airline pilot and pilots' union official.

The third board member is Elizabeth Dougherty, a Washington lawyer and former assistant to President George W. Bush.

Do you see where this is headed?

Early this month, the board voted, 2-1, (Hoglander and Puchala for, Dougherty against) to change the rules so that union representation would only need approval by a majority of those voting, not all the workers in the job classification. The change could become permanent after a 60-day comment period.

To the labor movement, this makes perfect sense.

"The deck is currently stacked against airline and railroad workers," Edward Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO's transportation trades department, said in a statement. "The NMB is proposing new rules that would finally permit airline and rail workers to vote for unions under the same standards found everywhere else in our system of democracy."

Dougherty dissented vigorously from the majority vote, contending that it would upend a rule that has worked to keep labor peace since the 1930s. She questioned whether the board, rather than Congress, has the authority to change the voting procedures. And if they are to be changed, she said, airline workers should also have the right to decertify a union, which they don't have now.

The new rules also are vehemently opposed by airlines, including by Delta, a largely nonunion carrier that is in the process of merging its workforce with that of heavily unionized Northwest.

Flight attendants at premerger Delta rejected representation by the Association of Flight Attendants union last year, when less than 40 percent of the 14,000 eligible employees voted in an election.

The union contends Delta management propagandizes against unionization in employee communications, a tactic that intimidates people and keeps them from voting. Once the Delta and Northwest workforces are combined, union leaders believe they will have a better chance of the workers' agreeing to collective bargaining, especially if it's a straight majority vote.

Delta spokeswoman Gina Laughlin says the company's stand against unionization is simply "communicating our belief that a direct relationship is best for our company and our employees." Still, she added, "the ultimate decision is up to employees."

Delta also is feuding with the International Association of Machinists, which represents thousands of Northwest ground workers, over the procedures governing a separate representation election.

Many people are certain that unions hamper American competitiveness and hurt more workers than they help. But the airlines have eliminated 158,000 jobs since just before Sept. 11, 2001, and tens of thousands of remaining employees have lost pay and benefits because of bankruptcies and downsizing. Such experiences tend to make union sympathizers out of many of those still working.

And arguments against unions certainly don't seem to have worked on employees at Southwest. Somehow, it has managed to be the most profitable U.S. airline for the last 35 years, despite being largely unionized and having the industry's highest pay scales.

Contact Tom Belden at 215-854-2454 or

» READ MORE: tbelden@phillynews.com

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