The CWA-AFA sought and received an extension to respond
to the IAM’s charges of election interference. The IAM
filed our submission in a timely manner, even though we
still continue to receive additional written complaints,
because the IAM understands how important a quick
resolution to this matter is.
The IAM’s charges
include the CWA-AFA (1) providing multiple hyperlinks to
the Board’s voting website in violation of Board rules;
(2) holding a voting party; (3) reproducing the Board’s
voting instructions and indicating which way to vote;
(4) coercing Flight Attendants to tell CWA-AFA how the
Flight Attendant voted, among other charges.
Many of these are not new charges against CWA-AFA. In
fact, the National Mediation Board admonished CWA-AFA
not to engage in such behavior in 2008 during its second
of three unsuccessful attempts to organize Delta Air
Lines Flight Attendants.
In the matter of reproducing Board materials, the NMB
warned CWA-AFA in 2008 that, “Should further
investigation establish that such disseminations
continue and/or that employees were misled and that the
materials at issue undermined the credibility of the
Board’s voting processes, the Board will take
appropriate action, which could include, but would not
be limited to, overturning the election results and
imposing a one-year bar.”
In regard to the illegal hyperlink to the voting
website, the NMB wrote in 2008 that the “Board may
consider hyperlinks to the voting website as possible
evidence of election interference.”
And as far as instructing Flight Attendants to
contact CWA-AFA to advise how they voted, the NMB said,
“The Board reminds the participants that NMB
elections are conducted by secret ballot and that the
confidentiality of the voting process must be
maintained.”
You can read the NMB’s admonishment to CWA-AFA for
yourself on the NMB's website
here.
The IAM’s protest has larger implications than just
this current election. The National Mediation Board has
rules in order to ensure fair elections. The CWA-AFA has
violated those rules, undermined the voting process, and
has been warned in writing that if those violations
continued there would be consequences to pay.
If the CWA-AFA is allowed to violate voters’ rights
and ignore directives from the federal agency charged
with ensuring fair elections, then the whole election
process is in jeopardy. Unions cannot ignore voting
rules and expect the NMB to force employers to abide by
them. If an employer infringed on Flight Attendant’s
rights like the CWA-AFA did, any union would charge them
with interference. In fact, that is exactly what the
CWA-AFA did at Delta Air Lines.
The National Mediation Board said in 2008 that they
would sanction the CWA-AFA if they continued violating
election rules. The official warnings were ignored and
they continued violating the rights of Flight Attendant
voters. It is time for the CWA-AFA to face the
consequences and for the NMB to overturn the election
results to ensure Flight Attendants have a truly fair
election.
