Eighteen unions have signed on to a statement against the Senate FAA funding compromise in but another jaw-dropping example of union hypocrisy and hubris. “The proposed Railway Labor Act changes would drastically rewrite a statute that was crafted by labor-management cooperation and has not been changed for over 75 years without the agreement of both employer and employee representatives… A rewrite of long standing labor law deserves proper and due consideration through the normal deliberative process. Acting otherwise directly conflicts with the non-partisan recommendations of the 1994 Report of the Dunlop Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations…Unilaterally changing that law without labor’s input and without due deliberation threatens to unravel its carefully balanced goals of labor stability and uninterrupted commerce.” It’s unclear if the statement’s author is aware of the 75-year precedent of unit majority elections shredded in 2010 by the hyper-partisan National Mediation Board that incited this FAA funding mess in the first place. Union bosses certainly coped well enough with that particular unilateral unraveling of the careful balance of labor stability as they stampeded the airline industry within minutes of the changes becoming law. And unions complaining about threats to “uninterrupted commerce”? Really? Does anyone proofread this stuff? The union statement was clearly directed at Senate Democrats who so far have declined to comment. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had called the compromise “a good example of the common-sense results that Democrats and Republicans can produce when they work together.” Under the compromise, the precedent busting 2010 “voting majority” rules would continue to apply in Railway Act elections but unions would need 50% on cards to call for an election, a change from the existing 35%. In a three-way election with no majority winner, the compromise would also run off the two top vote getters, including “no union.” Currently with no majority winner the two unions run off, even if 49% voted “no union”. Union indignation not withstanding, the compromise seems destined to pass as both Senate Democrats and Republicans are in no mood to defund the FAA again any time soon, and most certainly not in an election year.
