Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

Two Unions Launch Major Organizing Drives at Delta Air Lines
http://workinprogress.firedoglake.com/2010/07/02/two-unions-launch-major-organizing-drives-at-delta-air-lines/
Two Unions Launch Major Organizing Drives at Delta Air Lines
By: laborite57 Friday July 2, 2010 3:26 pm

There has been a lot of grumbling in labor circles that Obama hasn’t done enough for the unions that supported him so strongly in the 2008 election, but you are not likely to hear much of that in the inner circles of two airline unions that launched major organizing campaigns on Thursday. The unions anticipate that these campaigns may bring some 25,000 Delta Air Line workers into the union fold.

Two labor organizations — the Association of Flight Attendants and the International Association of Machinists — filed the paperwork July 1 with the National Mediation Board to set in motion union elections among Delta’s cabin crew members, baggage handlers, fleet service workers, customer service agents, and others at dozens of airports nationwide. Unless the elections get tangled in new technical or legal challenges, most of the results should be in by the end of the year.

The more dramatic and compelling story belongs to the Flight Attendants, which has waged a long and valiant struggle against hostile and aggressive executives at Delta. Affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, the AFA-CWA began preparing a major organizing drive at Delta back in 1997, only to suffer stinging election defeats in 2001 and again in 2008. Things look much brighter for the union now, thanks to new Obama appointees at the National Mediation Board which oversees labor relations in the airline and railroad sectors, and the recently completed merger of Delta with Northwest Airlines.

Two Unions Launch Major Organizing Drives at Delta Air Lines
http://workinprogress.firedoglake.com/2010/07/02/two-unions-launch-major-organizing-drives-at-delta-air-lines/
Two Unions Launch Major Organizing Drives at Delta Air Lines
By: laborite57 Friday July 2, 2010 3:26 pm

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There has been a lot of grumbling in labor circles that Obama hasn’t done enough for the unions that supported him so strongly in the 2008 election, but you are not likely to hear much of that in the inner circles of two airline unions that launched major organizing campaigns on Thursday. The unions anticipate that these campaigns may bring some 25,000 Delta Air Line workers into the union fold.

Two labor organizations — the Association of Flight Attendants and the International Association of Machinists — filed the paperwork July 1 with the National Mediation Board to set in motion union elections among Delta’s cabin crew members, baggage handlers, fleet service workers, customer service agents, and others at dozens of airports nationwide. Unless the elections get tangled in new technical or legal challenges, most of the results should be in by the end of the year.

The more dramatic and compelling story belongs to the Flight Attendants, which has waged a long and valiant struggle against hostile and aggressive executives at Delta. Affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, the AFA-CWA began preparing a major organizing drive at Delta back in 1997, only to suffer stinging election defeats in 2001 and again in 2008. Things look much brighter for the union now, thanks to new Obama appointees at the National Mediation Board which oversees labor relations in the airline and railroad sectors, and the recently completed merger of Delta with Northwest Airlines.

Northwest Airlines union seeks vote at Delta
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i04X6c3DTJDaRDjQnx3kkUz0-u1AD9GMGCE80
Northwest Airlines union seeks vote at Delta
By JOSHUA FREED (AP) – 2 days ago
MINNEAPOLIS — Unions for thousands of flight attendants and ground workers at the old Northwest Airlines said they would seek a vote to represent those groups at Delta, taking advantage of new election rules that make it easier for them to win.
The federal rule that took effect Thursday covers airline and railroad workers. Delta Air Lines Inc. would be the biggest and most visible prize for organized labor, but union drives at other companies are expected to benefit from the new rule, too. On Thursday, the Teamsters said they filed for an election to cover 570 mechanics at Atlantic Southeast Airlines.
Under the old rule, it took votes by a majority of the entire group of workers to approve a union. That meant that workers who didn't vote counted as "no" votes. Now, unions can be voted in by a majority of workers casting ballots.
At Delta, the unions asked the National Mediation Board to find that it and Northwest are operating as a single carrier. Delta bought Northwest in late 2008 and the Federal Aviation Administration granted them a single operating certificate on Dec. 31. The request to the mediation board is a first step toward a worker vote on whether flight attendants and certain ground workers will stay unionized, as they were at Northwest, or be nonunion, as they were at Delta.

Delta Air Faces Union Recruitment Drive
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703957604575272444013395792.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
MANAGEMENTJUNE 1, 2010
Delta Faces Union Contests
Unions Step Up Recruitment Following Federal Rule Change Targeting Aviation

By MIKE ESTERL

Delta Air Lines Inc., on the heels of last month's federal rule change making it easier for aviation workers to organize, is facing a stepped-up recruitment campaign by labor organizers.

While votes haven't yet been scheduled, unions have set to work putting up information desks at airline-staff lounges and visiting employees at their homes to prepare for elections that could be held this summer. At stake are tens of thousands of flight attendants, ticket agents and baggage handlers at the world's largest airline by traffic—and the last major U.S. carrier with less than half its staff covered by union contracts.

The high-stakes battle is being played across geographic and cultural fault lines, less than two years after Delta acquired Minneapolis-based Northwest Airlines. Northwest was only about half as large as Delta, but roughly 95% of its workers were unionized. Only about 15% of Delta's pre-merger workforce was unionized, with many of its employees based in the south, where organizing efforts traditionally have struggled.

FedEx Spent $21.1 Million In 15 Months To Preserve Its Ability To Prevent Drivers From Unionizing
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/05/17/fedex-lobbying-prevent/
FedEx Spent $21.1 Million In 15 Months To Preserve Its Ability To Prevent Drivers From Unionizing
Currently, House and Senate negotiators are trying towork out the differences between each chamber’s respective bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration. One key difference between the bills is that the House version corrects an inequity in labor law that allows Federal Express to operate under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), which poses higher barriers to union organizing than the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). FedEx’s competitors, such as the United Parcel Service, are governed by the NLRA. The Senate bill does not contain the change.

FedEx has been waging an intense campaign in order to preserve its special treatment, led by CEO Fred Smith, who was George W. Bush’s fraternity brother and has said that “I don’t intend to recognize any unions at Federal Express.” And according to Roll Call, in 15 months the company spent $21.1 million lobbying Congress:

Last year, it ranked 14th among all groups and companies in lobbying budgets, spending more than oil giant BP and defense contractor Lockheed Martin. The Memphis-based company also has tapped politically connected assistance, contracting with 14 outside lobbying firms that employ a number of former Senators. Not only is the Breaux Lott Leadership Group working for FedEx, but its founders, former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) and former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), are listed on the lobbying disclosure forms as personally working on the account. FedEx hired the international public relations firm Burson-Marsteller to work specifically on this issue.

An Appeal for Solidarity to Brothers and Sisters in the Labor Movement From Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA)
Juan Manggagawa

The Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) appeals to our brothers and sisters in the labor movement for labor unity and labor solidarity in our fight against layoffs and contractualization.

By end of business on the 31st of May, PAL plans to spinoff airport services, inflight catering and ticketing reservations which will lead to the termination of 3,000 employees. These jobs will be outsourced to other companies which also owned by Lucio Tan. We will be laid off only to be rehired for the same work in new companies and under new contracts. Regular workers will thus be replaced by contractual labor whose wages are cheaper, benefits are fewer and security of tenure is non-existent. Workers will be sacrificed to maintain the profits of Lucio Tan, already the second richest man in the country.

This is the ugly face of contrcatualization in PAL. It has happened before when PAL’s maintenance and engineering department was spunoff to Lufthansa Technik and MacroAsia, shell companies whose real owner is still Lucio Tan.

Labor issues key to airline merger success
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6984637.html
Labor issues key to airline merger success
Unions’ happiness with a deal can make or break a combination
By JENALIA MORENO
Houston Chronicle
April 30, 2010, 10:48PM
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Matthew Miggins likens the expected merger of Continental Airlines and United Airlines to a shotgun wedding.
“Due to circumstances that are beyond our control, someone has deemed that we are forced to get married,” said Miggins, a Continenal pilot based in Houston. “There's no true love.”
Miggins, who also owns FuseLodge, a Humble crash pad where airline workers can sleep in between shifts, worries Continental will be the one rescuing United.
Concerns like that of Miggins may help determine whether the merger succeeds. That's because union workers who fly jets, load and unload baggage and perform other airline jobs can disrupt operations if they're unhappy. Integrating unions has traditionally been one of the most difficult aspects of airline mergers.
Continental's board met Friday to discuss merger plans and is expected to meet again on Sunday. An announcement about the merger is expected Monday morning. Neither company has publicly confirmed the merger talks.

JAL labor unions seek strength through mergers in face of massive layoffs

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20100422p2a00m0na022000c.html
JAL labor unions seek strength through mergers in face of massive layoffs

Four of Japan Airlines' (JAL) labor unions have decided to merge into two larger bodies in a bid to enhance their influence over management as the airline moves to make drastic cuts to its workforce.

The JAL Flight Crew Union and the Japan Airlines Domestic Pilot Union, consisting of some 1,100 JAL and 670 former JAS pilots, respectively, plan to consolidate on June 1. Similarly, the Japan Airlines Labor Union and the Japan Airlines Domestic Labor Union, comprised of approximately 70 JAL and 650 former JAS ground staff, respectively, are scheduled to merge by the end of June.

Both flight crew and ground staff unions will hold separate extraordinary conventions in May, and begin preparing for the planned consolidations.

Currently, JAL has a total of eight labor unions, including the largest JAL Labor Union, as a result of a series of labor-management confrontations and the merger between JAL and JAS in 2002, leading to criticism that the complex relationshi

Fed Ex Buys an Exemption From Labor Laws-Obama Likes The Thinking Of Union Buster Fed Ex Boss Smith
http://www.counterpunch.org/macaray03262010.html
Weekend Edition
March 26 - 28, 2010

Cheating American Workers Out of Their Right to Organize

Fed Ex Buys an Exemption From Labor Laws

By DAVID MACARAY

One of the more devious means by which corporate America has kept labor unions at bay is by narrowing membership eligibility requirements. For example, because the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) restricts “supervisors” from joining a union, businesses are busy redefining workers’ job duties to have them appear as supervisory in nature.

Even though it’s a transparently naked power-play—one that likely wouldn’t fool a middle-school student—under George W. Bush’s administration (with Labor Secretary Elaine Chao leading the charge), businesses were nonetheless able to convince the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) to cheat American workers out of their right to organize.

The most notorious of these exemptions was the so-called “Kentucky River decision.” Under Kentucky River, “charge nurses” (nurses who act as lead persons) were reclassified as supervisors, thus depriving hundreds of thousands of health care employees of their legal right to join a union.

New rules could boost union numbers for airlines
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-rules-could-boost-union-numbers-for-airlines-2010-03-16?reflink=MW_news_stmp

March 16, 2010, 10:16 a.m. EDT
New voting rules could boost union numbers for airlines
Carriers face higher labor costs as workers fight to regain lost wages

By Christopher Hinton, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- A change in the way U.S. airline workers vote to organize could swell union numbers by the tens of thousands over the next two years and raise labor costs for the industry.

Under a new rule that could be announced as early as this week, the federal agency that referees labor-management relations for airlines would allow employees to organize if a majority votes in favor of unionization.

Reuters

Current rules by the National Mediation Board state that the majority of the entire workforce has to favor unionization, with absent ballots automatically counted as a "no" vote.

The change would align voting rules for airline labor -- governed under the Railway Labor Act -- more closely with those under the National Labor Relations Board.

The change in voting rules coincides with airline unions' ramped-up efforts to secure higher wages and benefits, drawing strength from a more labor-friendly administration in Washington as well as renewed industry growth after nearly two years of recession.