Rules Eased for Labor Organizing at Airlines

Published: May 10, 2010 - New York Times

WASHINGTON (AP) — Labor unions will have an easier time organizing workers at airline and railroad companies after the Obama administration on Monday changed a 76-year-old rule on union elections.

The change is a victory for unions that have struggled to reverse years of decline in membership. And it’s the most significant initiative so far in a string of White House moves intended to help organized labor.

The new rule, announced by the three-member National Mediation Board, would recognize a union if a simple majority of workers who cast ballots approved organizing. The previous rule required a majority of the entire work force to favor unionizing. That meant workers who did not vote were effectively treated as no votes.

The most immediate impact of the change would be at Delta Air Lines, where unions are trying to organize about 20,000 flight attendants. Unions are also expected to seek to organize workers at smaller carriers, including Allegiant Air, JetBlue Airways, Republic Airways and SkyWest.

Airlines that fought the change said it would lead to more labor disputes that could disrupt commerce and increase delays in an industry already reeling from recession, higher fuel costs and stepped-up security hurdles.

The Air Transport Association, which represents most major airlines, is expected to file a lawsuit challenging the rule.

Proponents of the change say the old rule ran contrary to democratic standards where the outcome of an election is determined by the majority of those who vote. The change puts the airline and railroad industries under the same procedures as most other companies, which are overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.

The board proposed the rule change in October, after a request from the A.F.L.-C.I.O. That request came soon after President Obama named Linda Puchala — former head of a flight attendants’ union — to the board, shifting the balance of power.

The final rule was approved 2-1, with the chairwoman, Elizabeth Dougherty, issuing a fierce dissent. Ms. Dougherty, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, said the change was “an unprecedented departure for the National Mediation Board and represents the most dramatic policy shift in the history of the agency.”

Airlines and railroads employ more than 500,000 workers, and about two-thirds of those are already in unions. That’s much higher than the overall union membership rate of 12 percent.

But one exception to the higher rate is at Delta, where only about 15 percent of workers were union members before the carrier merged two years ago with heavily unionized Northwest Airlines.