WASHINGTON D.C. -The Communications Workers of America (CWA) today announced their thanks to Reps. Braley and Loebsack for not yielding to extremists' union busting demands by standing up for Iowa's working families and voting against the FAA Reauthorization bill and its damaging impact on working families.
Despite the efforts of Reps. Braley and Loebsack, the FAA legislation passed both chambers of Congress last week. CWA members had been engaged for over a year in the fight for the passage of a clean FAA bill, calling for FAA legislation that would advance the important infrastructure and modernization components, but not include unrelated and unfair provisions dealing with union organizing and elections. However, a backroom "compromise" in name only moved the legislation forward while including completely unrelated provisions damaging to union elections and working families in Iowa and throughout the country.
Now that the legislation has passed, CWA members and allies are reaching out to their members of Congress to thank them, or to express their displeasure at their vote. CWA members in Iowa and across the nation will make sure their voices are heard by visiting district offices, sending letters, and making phone calls directly to their members of Congress.
Unfortunately, the FAA legislation creates new roadblocks for employees seeking union representation, takes away secret ballot rights, increases the threshold needed to call for a union election, makes collective bargaining more difficult, and limits the safeguards provided by the National Mediation Board (NMB). It also sets a dangerous precedent for those who prefer to hold critical transportation jobs and projects hostage rather than allow democracy on the job.
The bill passed despite strong opposition by organized labor. Eighteen international unions, representing over 10 million members, signed a letter calling for passage of a clean FAA Reauthorization bill and the United Steelworkers, Service Employees International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) and National Education Association sent individual letters of opposition to Congress.
CWA also released a full-page ad in the Washington paper POLITICO noting that Reps. Braley and Loebsack were two of 157 House members and 15 Senators who stood with workers and said no to the egregious union-busting in the FAA bill.
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