Originally posted at the Alliance for Worker Freedom

Christopher Prandoni, Executive Director of the Alliance for Worker Freedom, has written a letter to U.S. Representatives urging them to oppose the LaTourette-Costello amendment to the pending FAA Reauthorization bill. The amendment seeks to strip the FAA bill of its Title IX provision, which was included to directly rein-in the radical National Mediation Board, reversing last year's inexplicable "minority rule:"

"The three-member National Mediation Board (NMB)—two of whom are former union officials—ruled in 2010 that a majority of voting members were required to certify a union at airlines and railroads, not a majority of all members of a workforce. This move to facilitate unionization and overturn seventy-five years of labor law, supported by both parties, encapsulates concerns about federal overreach.

"Included within FAA reauthorization is a necessary provision—Title IX—to check the NMB, overturn their radical rulemaking, and return the to the original, longstanding election rules which were in place for decades. The LaTourette-Costello amendment looks to strip Title IX from the FAA bill, thereby codifying this Administration’s explicit attempts to subvert the will of Congress and legislate via regulatory fiat.   

"Furthermore, transportation unions already enjoy immense privileges under the Railway Labor Act. Due to the NMB’s arcane, pro-union rules, union certifications continue indefinitely, and while one union can replace another, no large airline or rail workgroup (with more than 400 members) has ever been able to vote to eliminate union representation. That is why, even under the traditional voting rules, the percentage of employees subject to union representation at airlines (60%) and railroads (84%), has been so much higher than the average in the private sector (7%). With no imminent election, it becomes impossibly difficult for workers to hold their union accountable.

"Compounding workers’ problems, state right-to-work laws are not applicable under the Railway Labor Act. Thus, unions require workers to pay dues as a condition of employment. If the worker does not comply, well, they are fired.

"This vote is not about labor unions, but rather who should determine and legislate significant changes in labor law, Members of Congress or unelected bureaucrats."

Click here to read the full letter.