Posts tagged Railway Labor Act
The next president may face a ‘January Surprise’: Port strikes
October 31, 2024 // Pay isn’t the issue. There’s a whopping 62 percent pay increase for the ILA already on the table. The issue is that the union wants no further automation of the ports. That’s not reasonable. US ports are already far behind the international standard for automation. CEI has proposed a way to avoid these potential crises in the future: put the ports under the authority of the Railway Labor Act (RLA), as opposed to the National Labor Relations Act’s (NLRA), the law that currently covers them. The RLA gives the president and Congress the power to step in and force a contract. That type of intervention isn’t ideal, but the threat of it will likely force both the union and management to reach a deal quicker. Congress would have to amend the RLA to make that happen and it isn’t likely to get around to it in time to prevent another walkout by the ILA before January.
Commentary: Democracy Is at Risk and on the Ballot in November Employee and Employers Are at Risk
October 27, 2024 // With membership down to a little more than six percent in the private sector, unions have grown desperate. They have run a highly effective PR campaign to reinvent themselves as human rights groups, appealing to the millennials and the plurals which are making up the workforce. As Vincent Vernuccio has recently written in his report, “Unions Need Democracy, “private sector unions are becoming less democratic and representative — even as they claim to represent all workers at unionized worksites. Ninety-five percent of union members in the private sector never had the opportunity to vote to be in the union.”
Port Strike Halts: Now What? Commentary
October 9, 2024 // Even a new contract agreement, if it does not fundamentally address American port uncompetitiveness, would prove to be only a six-year punt. Legislation has been introduced to move port workers from the main National Labor Relations Act governance structure that applies to most private-sector workers to the Railway Labor Act, which governs the railroad and airline industries. This change would give Congress and the administration more power to impose a negotiated settlement and prevent strikes, but the idea has been batted around for nearly a decade.
United Airlines flight attendants say they’re ready to go on strike
August 29, 2024 // When the vote on whether to authorize a strike was called for last month, the union said that it was meant to increase pressure on United to reach a deal. The flight attendants’ contract ran out in 2021.
SkyWest Airlines facing federal lawsuit over alleged ‘fake company union’
August 14, 2024 // SkyWest Airlines, the largest regional airline in North America, is facing legal action over an alleged “fake” company union that the airline operates and the allegedly retaliatory firings of flight attendants who were engaged in union organizing efforts. A lawsuit was filed by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) in October 2023. The US Department of Labor also filed a lawsuit last month against the company over the “company union”, alleging SkyWest Inflight Association (SIA) did not perform its legal duties as a representative agency and barred two employees from running in an election for leadership positions due to their support for an independent union at the airline.
NJ Transit — almost on brink of a rail strike — asks Biden to intervene
July 25, 2024 // Gov. Phil Murphy also could have requested Biden form a PEB. His office referred questions to NJ Transit. If Biden agrees to form a PEB, that stops the clock for 120 days while a panel of neutral experts review both sides’ arguments and other data and make a non-binding recommendation.
Ranking Member Cassidy Calls on Biden to Take Action in Gate Gourmet Failed Mediation, Avert Strike During Summer Travel Season
July 2, 2024 // A strike would disrupt in-flight and pre-flight services such as food and water for passengers and crew. “Disruptions in air travel will cause unnecessary uncertainty for families and airline workers alike,” wrote Dr. Cassidy. “To prevent severe economic consequences and a global disruption in air travel, it is imperative you use all of your available authority, including forming a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB), to resolve this matter and avert a strike. We need leadership.”
American Airlines flight attendants move closer to strike as Alaska reaches deal
June 26, 2024 // The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union, which covers the work group at Alaska, said on Friday that the bargaining group had reached a tentative agreement with the airline under federal mediation. Details of the contract have not been publicly released, and the agreement still must be ratified by the union's leadership and general membership.
Alaska Airlines reaches tentative labor deal with flight attendants
June 24, 2024 // The deal likely contains a significant pay raise, which has been a common demand across the airline industry and sought by unions whose members in some cases have not seen a pay increase in years. In April, the union announced to members it was seeking pay raises of between 43% to 56%, depending upon seniority, through 2026. Those pay raises would include back pay covering a period dating back a year and a half that they’ve worked under the terms of the previous contract.
Court of Appeals Hearing Arguments in Case Brought by Southwest Flight Attendant Who Was Illegally Fired for Criticizing Union Officials
June 5, 2024 // Carter resigned from union membership in 2013 but was still forced to pay fees to TWU Local 556 as a condition of her employment. The Railway Labor Act (RLA), the federal law that governs labor relations in the air and rail industries, permits the firing of employees for refusal to pay dues and preempts the protections that state Right to Work laws provide. However, the RLA does protect employees’ rights to refrain from union membership, to speak out against the union and its leadership, and to advocate for changing the union’s current leadership. In January 2017, Carter, a pro-life Christian, learned that then-TWU Local 556 President Audrey Stone and other Local 556 officials used union dues to attend a political rally in Washington, D.C., which was sponsored by activist groups she deeply opposed, including Planned Parenthood.