\nWashington, DC (November 3, 2009)<\/b> \u2013 America\u2019s preeminent workers\u2019 rights advocacy organization raised the alarm about an under-the-radar attempt by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and 30 other unions to make a dramatic change to labor regulations, enabling union organizers to corral tens of thousands of non-union railway and airline industry workers into union membership.\n<\/p>\n
\nYesterday, the National Mediation Board (NMB), a government agency charged under the Railway Labor Act with mediating labor disputes within the railroad and airline industries, voted 2-1 to preliminarily support the controversial changes.\u00a0 The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation sent a letter objecting to the AFL-CIO union\u2019s proposals and the NMB is requesting comments on the proposed changes.\u00a0 The Foundation will file formal comments in the coming days.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe AFL-CIO union bosses\u2019 proposal urges the NMB to discard its policy of requiring a true majority of all workers within a collective bargaining unit to decide for themselves if they wish to be represented by a union \u2013 a 75-year-old precedent \u2013 and instead implement new procedures that require only a majority of workers actually voting in a union organizing election to make that decision for the whole group.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe National Right to Work Foundation opposes the AFL-CIO\u2019s proposal because it makes it exceedingly difficult for independent-minded workers to resist Big Labor\u2019s well-funded, professional organizing machine, particularly since these campaigns must be run across an entire, often-nationwide bargaining unit.\u00a0 The proposed change also imposes a greater burden on employees who wish to refrain from union membership by forcing them to either take affirmative action to oppose the union or otherwise potentially allow far less than a majority make that decision for them.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cApparently unable to convince a true majority of affected workers to vote for unionization under the current process, AFL-CIO operatives are attempting to change the rules to give themselves the upper hand over the workers,\u201d said Stefan Gleason, vice president of National Right to Work. \u201cIndividual workers should never be forced into union ranks against their will, and it\u2019s unconscionable that union bosses want to be able to impose unionization without an actual majority of employees ever showing support for a union.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nThe National Right to Work Foundation\u2019s letter also calls on the NMB to establish a formal process for workers wanting to remove a union as their monopoly bargaining agent as required under Foundation-won precedent in U.S. federal court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nWashington, DC (November 3, 2009)<\/b> \u2013 America\u2019s preeminent workers\u2019 rights advocacy organization raised the alarm about an under-the-radar attempt by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and 30 other unions to make a dramatic change to labor regulations, enabling union organizers to corral tens of thousands of non-union railway and airline industry workers into union membership.\n<\/p>\n
\nYesterday, the National Mediation Board (NMB), a government agency charged under the Railway Labor Act with mediating labor disputes within the railroad and airline industries, voted 2-1 to preliminarily support the controversial changes.\u00a0 The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation sent a letter objecting to the AFL-CIO union\u2019s proposals and the NMB is requesting comments on the proposed changes.\u00a0 The Foundation will file formal comments in the coming days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[888],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n