CLEVELAND, May 10 — BLET National President Paul Sorrow today praised the National Mediation Board (NMB) for changing how it conducts representation elections, saying the new procedure will provide greater fairness to unorganized workers.
According to rules released by the NMB today and slated to be published in the Federal Register later this week, a simple majority of voters will determine the outcome of elections; whereas in the past, workers who did not participate in the election were counted as “no” votes.
Railroad and airline management have opposed the rule change. And even though it could still face legal challenges, President Sorrow hailed the proposed change as a major step in the right direction and believes it will make it easier for non-union workers to join the House of Labor.
The proposed rule change received widespread support. According to published reports, the NMB received letters supporting the change from 39 Senators, 179 Democratic House Members and 13 Republican House Members.
The new rule would read as follows:
“In conducting such investigation, the Board is authorized to take a secret ballot of the employees involved, or to utilize any other appropriate method of ascertaining the names of their duly designated and authorized representatives in such manner as shall insure the choice of representatives by the employees without interference, influence, or coercion exercised by the carrier. Except in unusual or extraordinary circumstances, in a secret ballot the Board shall determine the choice of representative based on the majority of valid ballots cast.”
A copy of the rule is on the BLET website at:
https://www.ble-t.org/pr/pdf/NMB_Final_Rule.pdf