Court backs new union election rule

Will impact airline, railroad employees

A U.S. COURT of appeals has upheld a rule change by the National Mediation Board toward fairer union representation elections for airline and rail employees. The new NMB rule, issued in 2010, establishes that a majority of employees who vote in union elections — rather than a majority of eligible voters — is required to win. Under the previous rule, which had existed since 1935, employees who did not vote were counted as “no” votes.

The D.C. Circuit Court handed down the 2-1 decision (Air Transport Assoc. v. NMB) on Dec. 16. The majority found that the NMB had the right to refashion the rule under the Railway Labor Act.

Republicans in Congress have held up long-term funding for federal aviation, in part because they oppose the new NMB rule. The resulting stalemate led to a partial shutdown of the FAA this past July, forcing thousands of construction workers and non-essential FAA employees to take unpaid leave and costing the federal government $350 million in uncollected taxes on airline tickets.