The federal attack on unions will resume next week. The House will vote on the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization and the
provision in it which would essentially codify vote fraud in organizing elections.
A recap: last year the the National Mediation Board that oversees those elections ruled that the railroad and airline industries would have to end their practice of counting non-votes in these elections as no votes. Previously, any eligible worker who chose not to vote was automatically counted as a no. Which would be fraud in any other election in the United State. The industries, and most House Republicans, want the rule back.
Fast forward. The anti-union push is building, in part fueled by one particular airline's zeal to kill fairness in the workplace.
The push is reflected in language in the House's FAA re-authorization bill. In an earlier stage of the legislative fight, Democrats, joined by a few Republicans, nearly succeeded in getting the provision stripped. Now, sources say, a similar fight is likely to play out on the House floor, and anti-union employees at Delta Airlines are preparing to fly to Washington to join the fight.
In a message to its members obtained by TPM, the group "No Way AFA"—a coalition of Delta employees who want to deliberalize union rights—frames the fight this way. (AFA is the Association of Flight Attendants, the flight attendants union.)...
According to the note, "Delta strongly supports the bill" as currently written.
Members are encouraged to participate in a fly-in to Washington, D.C., to lobby their congressmen, for which "positive space travel" -- free travel for airline employees -- is permitted.
A Delta spokesperson said No Way AFA operates separately from the company itself, but that the company "allow[s] employees to travel positive space to D.C. when supporting legislative efforts that the company supports."
By contrast, Delta policy requires employees to fly standby for leisure and personal travel, suggesting that the "positive space" standard for the fly-in could squeeze out seating space for regular travelers.
How much does Delta want this? They're forgoing selling seats to paying customers to fly their employees—contra stated corporate policy—to DC to lobby against their own interests.
The provision made it out of committee by just one vote, with several Republicans voting against it. They recognized how profoundly undemocratic and unfair it is. Those, and perhaps a few more, Republicans are expected to vote against it again on the floor. That this last minute push has been enjoined by industry to this degree might be an indication that the vote will be close. Even if it passes, a close vote would make it easier for Senate negotiators to strip the provision in conference committee. The Senate version of the reauthorization does not include the anti-union provision.
