The CWA, parent union of the Flight Attendants union, and the Transportation Workers Union announced a new “partnership” last week that is supposed to combine their forces as needed to bargain tough contracts and lobby lawmakers on transportation issues. However the two unions already appear to be on opposite sides of the primary transportation issue of the moment, the FAA funding compromise that recently passed both the House and Senate by wide margins. The TWU has said they can “live within” the compromise that retains last year’s “voter majority” rule change while setting a new higher 55% threshold for a union’s show of interest. The compromise also allows the two top vote getters, including the company, to run off after a three-way election without a majority winner. Currently only the two unions fight it out in a run-off election with “no union” taken off the ballot. The CWA has blasted the compromise bill and declared political war on Senate and House members who voted for it, taking out full-page newspaper ads to attack supporters of the compromise. No word yet on the CWA’s reaction to President Obama signing the bill into law this week.
