It's Already Been Defeated, Once

A previously-defeated Senate bill that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is pushing to revive with an airline industry lobbyist group would "set American labor back 100 years" by legally banning the right to strike, according to Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) Local 33, serving Northwest and Mesaba Airlines.

The proposed Airline Dispute Resolution Act (S.1327) would override the Railway Labor Act of 1926, which already makes it far more difficult for airline and railroad employees to strike than for other unionized American workers. The proposed new law backed by Senator McCain (below) and the Air Transport Association, the airline industry's largest lobbying organization, would ban strikes in favor of compulsory arbitration in which a panel would be forced to choose the final offer of one party or the other in its entirety, with no freedom to pursue a compromise. Typically, such arbitration panels have been heavily stacked in management's favor, AMFA officials said.

"The public is already safeguarded, since strikes in our industry can't happen suddenly and without warning. The Railway Labor Act imposes a 30-day cooling off period followed by arbitration before a strike can occur," said AMFA Local 33 Legislative Liaison Jim Atkinson. "The possibility of a strike is our only leverage for persuading management to bargain in good faith. If you take this away, you reduce employees to a condition of servitude not seen in America since the 19th century. You also cease to attract the most qualified mechanics, since the best people won't agree to work under these unfair conditions."

McCain conceded that "airlines use the current procedures to prolong negotiations and avoid accountability at the bargaining table," in an April 2002 letter to AMFA Local 33. "Imagine how disadvantaged we would be if this bill were passed declaring strikes illegal," said Atkinson.

He noted that Southwest Airlines, the most heavily-unionized of U.S. airlines and one of the most successful financially, is not part of the lobbying effort to revive the previously defeated bill. Southwest spokesman Ed Stuart was recently quoted as saying, "We're totally, incredibly uninvolved" in the lobbying effort. "Historically, our negotiations have gone very well."

"We have endured massive job eliminations since September 11 and are painfully aware of the fragile health of the airline industry. Publicly and privately, we have urged our members to do everything possible to support Northwest and Mesaba Airlines during this difficult time," Atkinson said. "We can't sit on the sidelines, however, while an attempt is being made to remove our most fundamental rights as employees."

FMI: www.airlines.org, www.amfa33.org