GOP Leader Targets NMB Voting Rules

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is preparing to vote on legislation that would reverse the voting rules for air and rail workers that were recently updated by the National Mediation Board (NMB).

Late last week, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-FL) introduced the House version of the FAA Reauthorization bill, with language that would repeal the NMB rules change and restore the archaic voting guidelines that have been used for decades to defeat union organizing drives.

The first vote on this rollback of landmark voting rights is scheduled for Wednesday, February 16, 2011. Click here to send a message to your Representative, urging them to vote “YES” on Democratic Rep. Jerry Costello’s (D-IL) amendment to strike Section 903 “Repeal the NMB Rule” from the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011 (H.R.658).

“Eliminating the fair voting rights of air and rail workers is wrong,” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger in a letter to all House members. “The people and organizations who want to again impose a viewpoint on non-participatory voters are wrong. This unfairness lasted for 75 years, and we cannot return to a process that denies voters a fair election process.”

Chairman Mica’s version of the FAA bill also omits OSHA protection for Flight Attendants and eliminates mandatory inspections at foreign repair stations as well as drug and alcohol testing at foreign repair stations.

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