National Labor Relations Board Archives - Page 2 of 2

By International President Mike Futhey

What do the Nov. 2 congressional election results mean for UTU members and their families?

Consider these facts that are not always obvious:

While it is true that organized labor has more friends among Democrats, many of the Republicans elected Nov. 2 are friends of working families, and they received UTU PAC support and were on our voting recommendations list.
The UTU is a bipartisan union, historically and consistently looking beyond party labels to reward each and every friend of working families.
Among our Republican friends, for example, are Rep. Don Young of Alaska, and Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. Republican Sen. Hatch is one of the strongest congressional defenders of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), while Republican Rep. Young has been one of the UTU’s most ardent supporters in the House of Representatives.
One of the most important congressional committees to UTU members — airline, bus and rail — is the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, where most legislation affecting the transportation industries originates. Among Transportation & Infrastructure Committee members, more than 66 percent — Democrats and Republicans — who were endorsed by the UTU won re-election Nov. 2.
In all congressional races Nov. 2, more than 60 percent of UTU endorsed candidates won election or re-election. Imagine if you could win a poker hand more than 60 percent of the time, or hit safely six of 10 times at bat as a major league ballplayer.
Despite the change in party control in the House of Representatives, UTU recommended candidates are still a majority, meaning the UTU National Legislative Office can continue to work successfully on issues that matter to our members — job security, safety, health care and retirement benefits, as well as adequate public funding for Amtrak and public transit.
Key regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, National Mediation Board, and National Labor Relations Board, will continue to have labor-friendly majority control.
The UTU’s GOTV — “get out the vote” — effort this election year resulted in thousands of UTU members and families, who were not previously registered or hadn’t voted in the previous (2006) non-presidential election, registering to vote and casting ballots in congressional races.
In states where early voting is permitted, preliminary polling by GOTV shows that as many as 20 percent of UTU members and spouses who cast an early ballot had not voted in the 2006 non-presidential election. This proved important in close races.
On behalf of the UTU, GOTV — in partnership with UTU state legislative directors and the UTU Auxiliary — made more than 210,000 unique member contacts in 28 states via the postal service, e-mail and telephone calls, urging UTU members and their families to register to vote and to vote in this election.
By encouraging a higher percentage of UTU members to register to vote and to vote, we demonstrate to candidates the power of UTU endorsements — and, especially, that in close races, a UTU endorsement has great value to a candidate.
Candidates remember their friends in the same manner organized labor remembers its friends.
As the proverb says, “It’s not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes a difference.” What the UTU PAC and GOTV demonstrate to candidates of all political stripes is that the UTU is a friend worth having.
The UTU has always had a great legislative program, but what we have accomplished this election through GOTV sets a new standard and benchmark to measure future advances.
When the new Congress is seated in 2011, we will be working closely with our old and new friends to continue advancing the UTU legislative agenda on behalf of our members.

By UTU International President Mike Futhey

The National Mediation Board, which administers the Railway Labor Act, proposes changing the rules by which rail and airline employees choose labor union representation. The UTU supports the change.

The NMB rules for representation elections now require a majority of employees eligible to vote actually cast a ballot favoring a union before that union is certified as the bargaining agent. Those not voting are assumed to have cast a “no” ballot.

By contrast, the National Labor Relations Board, which administers labor law affecting the bus industry, certifies representation elections based on results of those actually voting — the universal standard in democratic elections.

The UTU submitted comments supporting the change. A final ruling by the NMB may be issued this month.

You might wonder why the NMB has been out of sync with universal democratic voting procedures. The answer is circumstances were markedly different when the rule was first imposed during the 1930s.

Back then, the NMB was concerned with company unions, racial discrimination, conflict among competing unions, lower reading comprehension among union members, primitive means of communication, and even communist agitators.

Two-thirds of the NMB workload in the 1930s involved purging outlawed company unions, which were controlled and financed by management. Requiring a majority of those eligible to vote (as opposed to a majority of those voting) more conclusively communicated to management an employee desire for an independent labor union.

African-American employees often were denied representation in company unions, and were discriminated against in hiring, assignments and discipline. Many railroads back then tried to deny ballots to African-American employees. By certifying representation elections based on the majority of those eligible to vote, the NMB advanced racial democracy.

In that earlier era, dozens of labor unions were in competition for representation, as it was not until 1954 that the AFL-CIO constitution prohibited “raiding” by its member unions. Thus, the NMB sought to “get it right” in determining which union the majority of employees favored.

During the 1930s, only 30 percent of workers held high school diplomas (versus more than 70 percent today), and voting was by mail ballot with detailed written instructions.

Communication also was primitive. This was no small concern, as under the Railway Labor Act, representation is system-wide. It may be hard to believe in this era of cell phones, but during the 1930s, it took up to five AT&T operators to complete long-distance calls, which cost up to $33 in current dollars. By requiring a majority of eligible employees vote in favor of representation, the procedure promoted a more informed vote as union supporters had incentive to educate members on each individual property and encourage them to vote.

Finally, during the 1930s, communist agitators advocated worker militancy. The NMB election procedures of that era sought to prevent a handful of agitators from rigging elections.

Circumstances have, indeed, changed. And that is why the NMB now proposes to bring its 75-year-old representation election voting procedures in sync with the universal rule of democratic elections.

Meanwhile, Congress currently has before it the Employee Free Choice Act, which affects our bus members covered under the National Labor Relations Act. Employers and their friends in Congress have so far blocked passage of that law.

The Employee Free Choice Act would do three things to level the playing field for employees and employers.

It would strengthen penalties against companies that illegally coerce employees from expressing support for union representation; it would require a neutral third party impose a contract when a company refuses to negotiate in good faith; and it would require an employer to recognize a union immediately if a majority of employees sign union-authorization cards.

The UTU supports passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.