February 7, 2012

Nearly 30 Democratic Senators, many of whom have received serious amounts of financial and logistical support from organized labor, voted yesterday to accept the nasty anti-union FAA reorganization bill passed forward by the GOP controlled House.

One of the most controversial parts of the bill would change accepted labor law for rail and airline workers - that would count anyone who did not vote in a union election as voting against the union. This is one of the oldest employer scams in the book and the powerful airline industry - though quick to seek shelter in the bankruptcy courts - seems to have money to burn to buy votes to pass this stinker in Congress. Make no mistake - this vote had one beneficiary - three huge airline conglomerates. The new law would raise the threshold for signatures required to get a union election from 35% of those employed - to 50%.

A letter signed by 19 labor groups slammed Democrats for

"Rewarding the house Republican Leadership's desire to rewrite decades of long standing labor law in a flash by inserting an unrelated and controversial labor provision in a much needed aviation safety bill, without notice, hearing or debate - this sets an extremely dangerous precedent." From a letter drafted by The CWA.

Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, voted against the revised bill, saying it served only the interests of airline companies, while further attacking the rights of middle-class workers.

It's time to stop sending so much of workers cash to politicians who are going to sell us out down the road!

More funds for outreach, organizing and labor/worker media!

Also, Bill Maher has something fun to say:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/07/bill-maher-new-rule-for-american-airlines_n_1258774.html