Boehner claims victory in FAA bill labor fight

[Omaha Steve]

http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/aviation/209195-boehner-claims-victory-in-faa-bill-labor-fight

By Keith Laing - 02/07/12 02:38 PM ET

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is claiming victory in a fight over labor election rules for transportation workers that, before this week, prevented approval of a multiyear funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration.

The House and Senate have both approved a bill that provides nearly $16 billion per year to the beleaguered FAA through fiscal year 2015.

But before they did, the FAA had not had a long-term funding bill since 2007, as Congress squabbled over rules set by the National Mediation Board for union elections involving workers that were covered under the Railway Labor Act.

Boehner’s office said Tuesday that the compromise that cleared the way to the end of that delay was a long-sought victory for the anti-union movement.

FULL story at link.

[msongs]

1. as well he should but wait...obama is gonna veto this thing, for the workers right? nt

[bottomofthehill]

4. dont hold your breath

[Scruffy1]

5. You bet. Right after he sends that pony he promised.

I can't help but like him, but he is the most "compromising" President ever. He is just a doing what slick lawyers do to settle disputes and earn fees. After all, that's how he made his living. Kissing both sides asses. Seriously, I don't think raising the card sign up from 35% to 50% will have that big an effect, since not many organizers would go ahead with a vote with only 35%. I haven't seen the rest of the details.
The really insidious thing is that it seems that job growth=lower wages and benefits as we are forced to compete globally in the labor market. The whole aviation business has been in a downward spiral on wages for years with a lot of the maintenance being done overseas.

[proverbialwisdom]

2. Apparently, it gets worse.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203889904577201170395161202.html

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

U.S. Skies Could See More Drones
FAA Bill Sets Deadlines to Speed Up Use of Unmanned Planes Nationwide
By ANDY PASZTOR

Unmanned planes could soon become a more common presence in U.S. skies.

A broad funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration, which was released this week and is expected to win final approval before the middle of February, for the first time establishes specific deadlines designed to speed up the widespread use of unmanned planes, or drones, across the U.S.

On Friday, the House passed the package in a 248-169 vote.

The bill calls for integrating a wide range of so-called unmanned aerial vehicles—operated by both governmental and corporate entities—with commercial and general aviation traffic across the nation's skies by September 2015.

More...

Link from:

http://protect.org/

Protect:

According to Congress, there's not enough money for child rescue. Not enough money for children to have attorneys in court proceedings. Not enough money for child victims to have adequate care and treatment. Not enough money for child protection workers. But there is enough money for...

http://on.wsj.com/wM5fNr

U.S. Skies Could See More Drones
online.wsj.com
Drones could soon expand far away from the battlefield to U.S. skies following agreement over a broad Federal Aviation Administration funding bill this week.

[Obama3_16]

3. I can't even begin to tell you how fucked up this is

yes, it will be bad when some corporate assholes are trying to fly large planes and send a pilotless plane into a subdivision killing people, but what concerns me more is these small bird type surveillance planes. Not only can they provide an enveloping presence at high security events, but they could be used for targeted assassinations right here in the U.S.

[ProSense]

6. Boehner

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is claiming victory in a fight over labor election rules for transportation workers that, before this week, prevented approval of a multiyear funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration.

...is full of shit. He doesn't get to gloat about busting unions.

The problem is that while the Democrats didn't budge in it's opposition to the GOP's union-busting provision, they compromised to raise the threshold that would trigger a vote from 35 percent to 50 percent. It does not allow a non-vote to be counted as a "no" when the vote occurs. From the OP

Under the compromise, 50 percent of a company’s workforce would need to support unionization for a vote to take place, up from the current level of 35 percent. That overrides an NMB decision from 2010 that would have counted non-votes in union elections as “no” votes.

Here's a more detailed explanation

<...>

Several labor issues over the years have frustrated efforts to pass a bill. Most recently, a Republican-drafted bill that cleared the House last spring included a provision that would have overturned a National Mediation Board ruling allowing airline and railroad employees to form a union by a simple majority of those voting. Under the old rule, workers who didn't vote were treated as "no" votes.

The labor provision, which was opposed by the Democratic-controlled Senate, became the principal issue holding up the bill. A compromise reached two weeks ago by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, allows the mediation board's rules to stand, but it also toughens some lesser requirements that must be met in order to hold a union organizing election.

While the compromise was acceptable to some unions, more than a dozen other unions that represent airline industry workers — including the Teamsters, Communications Workers, Machinists and Flight Attendants — complained the deal was reached without their input and urged its rejection.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/congress-passes-faa-bill-speeds-232205016.html

One impacts the requirement for holding a vote, the other impacts the actual union elections. The GOP wanted a non-vote to count as a no vote during the actual union elections.

It's not a good compromise, but the GOP's proposal was worse.