Posts tagged Railway Labor Act
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.
Alphabet Soup: NLRB, NMB, FMCS
April 4, 2024 // This is the third in a series of introductory guides to help you navigate the alphabet soup of federal labor and employment agencies. Throughout the federal government, there is agency overlap and the pendulum often swings with each new President in the White House. Ultimately, the general framework for each agency’s mission and the statutes they enforce remains little changed. Below is an introductory guide to the National Labor Relations Board, National Mediation Board, and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to help you better understand their missions and mandates.
Union president says Massachusetts commuter rail workers will strike if needed
March 2, 2024 // The Railway Labor Act, Flaherty responded, makes it harder for rail workers to strike, but it doesn’t prohibit a work stoppage if the situation is bad enough. “Keep in mind, we do not want to strike. But when we’re legally able to, we will,” he warned. A Keolis spokesperson pushed back on Flaherty’s assertions, pointing to pay raises that came out negotiations in six of the last seven years. She also said that its not fair to say the union is without a contract, as those agreements exist perpetually under the law, but instead is more accurate to say a consensus hasn’t been reached on a future wage increase.
Breeze Flight Attendants Take Next Step in Unionizing
January 24, 2024 // The move comes nearly two weeks after Breeze flight attendants announced their organizing campaign. Some of the reasons why Breeze flight attendants said they wanted to unionize included issues with pay, a lack of hotel accommodations when away from bases, a changing set of workplace rules, and “disrespectful treatment from management.” “Breeze Flight Attendants are proud of their work as aviation’s first responders and they are ready to lock in a real voice at their growing airline,” AFA International President Sara Nelson said in a statement. “Flight Attendants are not wasting any time organizing for legal rights on the job and a secure future at Breeze with a union contract. We’re with them all the way.”
Philly workers got organized in 2023. Look back on this year’s strikes, walkouts, and union campaigns.
December 30, 2023 // As worker organizing activity heated up toward the end of 2022, with new unions and strikes grabbing headlines through the fall, labor leaders predicted 2023 would be an even bigger year for employees seizing on their leverage.
Did SkyWest fire two flight attendants for unionizing, or for posting colleagues’ personal data?
September 28, 2023 // hane Price and Tresa Grange were already recognized leaders of an effort to organize with a union, outside of SkyWest’s flight attendant union, SkyWest Inflight Association (SIA), when Price said he “stumbled upon” the voting credentials of his fellow flight attendants. His colleagues’ personal information, including unique voting codes, was on an unprotected website for anybody to see if they knew where to look, he said. (On Monday, SIA’s website was down, listed as “under construction.”) “The website that SIA created had all of that information available to the public,” Price said. “It wasn’t even password-protected.”
PHILADELPHIA: SEPTA must negotiate contracts with nearly all its labor unions amid looming financial crisis
September 18, 2023 // The authority projects an annual operating deficit of $240 million beginning next July 1 as the last of its federal pandemic aid is spent, a situation dubbed the “fiscal cliff” that afflicts most transit systems in the United States. Riders have not returned in pre-COVID 19 numbers, and changing travel patterns have accelerated in the last three years. SEPTA and the state’s other public transit agencies are pushing for the legislature to adopt a measure that would give them a greater share of the sales tax to support operations. Uncertainty about finances makes it difficult to say “yes” to increased pay and benefits for TWU Local 234, which represents operators of buses, trolleys, and transit trains, SEPTA CEO Leslie S. Richards said Tuesday during a hearing of the state House Transportation Committee at the agency’s headquarters.
‘Union Joe’ Can’t Do Much To Stop Major Auto Strike
September 14, 2023 // The UAW has also expressed reservations over Biden’s push for electric vehicles, believing that they are not as high quality as the current unionized autoworker jobs, presenting a political challenge of balancing the union’s desires with his climate goals, according to Bloomberg. The union has yet to endorse Biden in his 2024 presidential campaign. The Biden administration cannot step in to prevent a strike as it did in negotiations between four rail unions and rail companies in December 2022, after Congress used its special authority over railroad labor to force contracts on unionized workers. The new contracts were absent of key demands like paid sick leave and other “quality of life” requests. The rail industry is under the jurisdiction of the Railway Labor Act, enacted in 1926, which regulates labor relations in the industry and enables Congress to force contracts on rail workers. The auto industry is not covered under the same type of regulations, meaning Biden lacks the power to intervene forcefully as he has in the past.