Score One for the Unions

Unions would find it easier to organize workers at airlines and railroads under a new proposal by the National Mediation Board.

The board, which handles labor issues for these two industries, proposes to amend its rules so that a union can win the right to organize a workplace if most of the workers who vote in an election approve representation.

Under current rules, a majority of the employees of the work group in question must vote for representation. There isn’t an option to vote no on these ballots—you either vote yes or you don’t vote. If you don’t vote, your vote counts as a no.

That’s an odd way to hold an election. We’d have few elected officials if those rules applied to government elections, given how many citizens don’t vote in this country.

Two members of the three-member National Mediation Board voted in favor of the rule change, which was requested by the AFL-CIO. Under their proposal, employees could vote yes or no on union representation, and whichever choice got the most votes would prevail. Employees who don’t vote won’t count.

These board members contend this change “will provide a more reliable measure/indicator of employee sentiment in representation disputes and provide employees with clear choices.”

Board chairman Elizabeth Dougherty, the lone dissenter on this rule change, disputes that rationale and contends her colleagues acted hastily, without getting enough comments from all interested parties.

“This independent agency has never been in the business of making controversial, one-sided rule changes at the behest of only labor or management,” Dougherty wrote in her dissent.

She also questioned the timing of the proposed rule change—the board just recently appointed a committee with representatives from labor and businesses to examine the board’s responsibilities under the Railway Labor Act, the law that governs it.

“In my view, it would be premature and irresponsible for the board to propose any change to one of its most long-standing procedures before this committee has made its report,” Dougherty wrote.

Delta Air Lines is concerned about timing as well. Last week, the International Association of Machinists withdrew its application for a union election involving Delta’s 14,000 fleet-service employees.

“The timing of IAM’s application is suspicious considering it is taking place days before the NMB publishes its proposal to change the long-standing majority-vote rule,” said Mike Campbell, Delta’s executive vice president of human resources and labor relations. “Further delay disrespects our people who deserve the opportunity to make their own choice regarding union representation.”

Campbell has a point, but either side of a labor-management dispute is going to try to game the system to their advantage. That’s why there should be clear-cut rules, based on a commonsense view of what is fair.

That’s why employers, so far, are winning the battle over the Employee Free Choice Act, which would enable unions to organize workplaces simply by getting a majority of employees to sign cards. No election by secret ballot would be necessary. To most Americans, that doesn’t sound fair—they believe an individual should have the right to make an important decision like that privately, without coercion from either side.

What’s fair when it comes to how you define a majority in a union election? Most Americans probably agree with the National Mediation Board’s proposal—have the workers vote yes or no, and whoever gets the most votes wins. The current system may—in Dougherty’s woods—“maintain stability” in the airline and railroad industries, but it doesn’t seem fair.

There are lots of reasons people don’t vote in elections—they shouldn’t automatically be counted as no votes.