Isakson Praises House Oversight Committee's Decision to Investigate Federal Board's Reversal of Rule on Labor Elections

May 18, 2011

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today praised the decision by a U.S. House committee to investigate the National Mediation Board’s reversal of 75 years of precedent in an attempt to make it easier for airline and railway employees to unionize.

Isakson, who serves as the ranking Republican of the Senate Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee, has fought against the National Mediation Board for more than a year for issuing a rule change in May 2010 that allows union elections to be decided by only a majority of workers who cast ballots, reducing the number of votes it takes to win.

On Tuesday, May 17, 2011, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced that it will investigate, calling the National Mediation Board’s action a “radical shift” and expressing concern that the board’s independence was compromised by the political influence of the labor unions.

“I applaud the House Oversight Committee for investigating the National Mediation Board’s action that throws out 75 years of precedent and makes it easier for airline and railway employees to unionize,” Isakson said. “By taking this action without Congressional approval or adequate reasoning, the National Mediation Board has recklessly tossed aside fairness and impartiality to benefit their former bosses in the labor movement.”

Isakson believes the National Mediation Board did not have the authority to change this union election rule without Congressional authorization. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the former “majority rule” twice, and the National Mediation Board had previously rejected four requests – under both Democratic and Republican administrations – asking it to change the rule.

In September 2010, Isakson led the fight on the Senate floor to stop the National Mediation Board from reversing the union election rule. Isakson’s “disapproval resolution” on the rule change, S.J.Res.30, failed by a vote of 43-56. Isakson and other senators also filed comments with the National Mediation Board in January 2010 urging the board to reject the rule change, which was requested by the AFL-CIO.