Published 31 Mar, 2011
In a recent article in The Hill about the ongoing Congressional debate over the FAA Reauthorization bill and union voting rules, TWU International President James C. Little was quoted supporting the amendment offered by Republican Congressmen Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) that would preserve democratic union voting rules for aviation and rail workers.
LaTourette broke with other members of his party to propose an amendment that would preserve a 2010 change to National Mediation Board rules that allows a majority of workers to decide to form a union and ensures democratic voting procedures. The rule change reversed an old policy in which workers who did not vote were counted as no votes—a practice that is not used in American political elections. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) recently released a report showing that no member of congress would have been elected last year under those requirements.
“I applaud Steven for actually coming forward, getting this on the floor and moving it forward,” said Little in The Hill. “It’s a sensible law. What [the Board was] trying to do was to make progress and make union elections more democratic.”
House Republicans included a provision in the FAA Reauthorization bill that would repeal the NMB rule change and weaken the rights’ of workers and their ability to join unions.
Read the article from The Hill: Republican Breaks Ranks on Union Issue.