SpiraMirabilis
Possible Subversive
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/senate-dems-greenlight-key-anti-union-bill.php
It seems like caving is what Democrats do best, because they passed the FAA reauthorization bill in the senate. While the portion of the bill that said that people who didn't vote should be counted as No in union votes was removed a couple of sections that I consider to be anti-union has remained. The most important is a section that says that if a non-union airline acquires a smaller union airline airline the smaller union would be dissolved with no votes, and then the combined pilot group would have to go through the initial organization drive process, sending out cards and having a NMB vote if they want representation.
Basically if SkyWest had waited until this new authorization bill went into effect before buying ExpressJet or ASA they would both be non-union shops, regardless of what it says in the acquisition/merger section of their CBA.
Before you could say that whatever SkyWest pilots did was their own business and did not effect you -- now that is only true if your airline isn't bought by them.
It seems like caving is what Democrats do best, because they passed the FAA reauthorization bill in the senate. While the portion of the bill that said that people who didn't vote should be counted as No in union votes was removed a couple of sections that I consider to be anti-union has remained. The most important is a section that says that if a non-union airline acquires a smaller union airline airline the smaller union would be dissolved with no votes, and then the combined pilot group would have to go through the initial organization drive process, sending out cards and having a NMB vote if they want representation.
Basically if SkyWest had waited until this new authorization bill went into effect before buying ExpressJet or ASA they would both be non-union shops, regardless of what it says in the acquisition/merger section of their CBA.
Before you could say that whatever SkyWest pilots did was their own business and did not effect you -- now that is only true if your airline isn't bought by them.
The reason we supported it was basically because it doesn't change the way we do organizing. We never file our cards for an election before we have a strong majority, anyway, so changing the limit to 50% doesn't really affect us. Frankly, it's silly for any union to file cards if they can't get at least 50%. Even if you somehow manage to get elected, there's no way that you'll have the unity to actually get anything done from a minimal majority. So, even though the compromise was less than ideal, it doesn't really change our operations, and there were enough benefits in the bill otherwise to make it worthwhile. That's the view of the administration, anyway.
