House GOP to Domestic Aviation Industry: Drop Dead

Contact: Michael Earls, 202-261-2388

Led by John Mica, GOP Willing to Shut Down the Air Transportation System Over Extreme Union-Busting Provision in FAA Reauthorization Bill

Washington - As the Associated Press reports today, “A quarrel between the House and Senate over union organizing by airline and railroad workers could lead to a shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.”

Here’s another way of phrasing the lede: “the anti-union, ideological fervor of House Republicans like John Mica (R-FL) is stronger than their desire to create new American jobs and deliver needed aviation industry upgrades. These ideologues would rather shut down the FAA than see union elections for air and rail workers adhere to the same basic election standards as every other form of American election, union or non-union.”

Here’s what passing a multi-year FAA Reauthorization bill would mean for the nation : hundreds of thousands of jobs, critical safety improvements, infrastructure and technology upgrades to air traffic control systems, and a shot in the arm for airlines' bottom lines. Yet an agreement in the conference committee process to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the legislation remains out of reach, predominantly due to an unrelated attack on union election rules and collective bargaining.

Here’s the sticking point : Mica and his cohorts, like Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI), are insisting that the FAA Reauthorization bill includes a union-busting measure that would stack the decks against workers' ability to collectively bargain. This provision would change the rules that govern union organizing elections for air and rail workers overseen by the National Mediation Board (NMB) and would subject these workers to a different election standard than every other form of American election. Instead of adhering to the principle that we only count ballots actually cast, the House version of the FAA legislation would count eligible voters who did not participate in an election the same as actually having voted "No." As a report from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) demonstrated, if congressional and Senate elections were conducted under the proposed standards for NMB elections, zero current Member of Congress or Senator would have won their last election.

Here’s what’s at stake if Mica shuts down the FAA : According to the A.P. article, the FAA “employs about 32,000 workers” separate from 16,000 air traffic controllers who would continue working under a shutdown scenario. Per A.P., “The extent of the furloughs would depend in part on how much cash is available in the federal trust fund for aviation programs and how long the shutdown goes on.” Peak summer travel season flyers would surely appreciate Mica’s willingness to scuttle the aviation industry for his pet, partisan cause.

In a new letter on the topic, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), and the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Aviation, Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL), write to Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), that, “the failure to enact a long-term FAA reauthorization act is costing taxpayers millions of dollars and the Nation tens of thousands of good-paying jobs this year. Short-term, stop-gap funding authorizations have stymied airport construction, job creation, and the FAA’s overall ability to efficiently administer its programs.” They go on to write that due to uncertainty over the FAA reauthorization, “state and local airport officials are advancing fewer projects, less new construction is moving forward, and fewer jobs are being created.”

It simply makes no sense to saddle the larger, important FAA legislation with this unrelated union-busting provision. Already, the Obama Administration has threatened to veto the overall FAA bill if the NMB elections provision remains in the legislation after conference negotiations.

Incredibly, Mica told the A.P., “We can resolve this in a one-hour conference. The time to stop messing around is now." We agree wholeheartedly. Sensible Republicans who recognize the overwhelming benefits of the FAA bill should convince Mica and their other colleagues to remove the contentious and unrelated NMB provision and to advance the needed FAA Reauthorization bill.

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