New CWA Video & Sen. Rockefeller Highlight How Delta Air Lines Places Long-Term FAA Bill in Jeopardy

New Jobs Go Unfilled As Delta – “The Official Airline of the One Percent” – and GOP Allies Place Union-Busting Above All Else

WASHINGTON D.C. – Remarks by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) about the continued failure of Republican Congressional leadership to pass a long-term FAA Reauthorization bill again highlights both the stakes and culprits of the continued impasse, the Communications Workers of America said today.

Additionally, a new video released by CWA highlights Delta Air Lines’ role in driving the impasse over the FAA bill and delaying the bill’s numerous benefits in the process – all because of Delta’s obsession with stacking the deck against workers who want a union. The video calls on Delta to “Drop the Attacks, Put Jobs First.” Watch the video: www.cwa-union.org/deltavideo

In his speech yesterday to the Aero Club in Washington, DC, Senator Rockefeller said, “We cannot continue on this disastrous path, but we do stand on the precipice of losing another FAA reauthorization bill this year. We’re willing to do what we have to do, but on the other side of the building there’s no movement and no give. Once again we are stalled…I am angry at the situation. I do not understand how this fixation with one airline can be seen as paramount [such] that the House would shut down the FAA to get its way, which they did.”

At risk are tens of thousands of good-paying jobs that would be created via the FAA reauthorization agreement, along with critical infrastructure upgrades that will modernize airports across the country as well as the national and air traffic control system to the benefit of both the air traveling public and the aviation industry.

At fault for the continued failure to forge an agreement are ideologically-driven Republicans who have been lobbied hard by Delta Air Lines. Their unwillingness to maintain the democratic standard for union elections, and instead count a NON vote in a union election as a NO vote -- an unfair standard no member of Congress could get elected to office with -- threatens to derail the job-creating legislation for the foreseeable future.

“Senator Rockefeller deserves credit for highlighting what’s at stake and, while being willing to compromise on provisions relevant to the FAA bill, refusing to bend on the unrelated union busting provision that Delta Air Lines and its Republican allies are obsessed with,” said CWA Communications Director Candice Johnson. “Delta Air Lines should re- brand itself as ‘The Official Airline of the One Percent.”

Senator Rockefeller also noted that without progress toward an agreement, “I believe it will be some time before an FAA reauthorization package will pass any Congress.” As the Washington Post noted, the “congressional stalemate, which led to a shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration this summer, comes at a critical hour. Airlines are reluctant to begin investing up to $10 billion in a revolutionary air traffic system without confidence that the FAA has long-term funding to develop the plan.”

“Unfortunately for the millions of people who would benefit from an FAA agreement, air travelers and job seekers alike, Republicans in Congress seem more intent on silencing workers’ voices at Delta Air Lines than they do about forging a long-overdue agreement. Republican leadership and others who recognize the needed benefits of the FAA bill should stand up to those blocking progress on this bill and insist that enough is enough,” Johnson said.

Watch CWA’s New Video Highlighting Delta’s Role in Blocking FAA Reauthorization Benefits

Contact: Chuck Porcari, 202-434-1168 or cporcari@cwa-union.org