Political Quotes

“I rise today to urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this joint resolution disapproving the National Mediation Board rule that will deprive railway and airline employees of a voice in their representation elections. For 75 years, the Board's procedure for voting on union representation properly reflected the geographically broad workforce of the rail and airline industries. Under this time-tested procedure, the workforce would become unionized if the majority of all the workers in a class voted to join a union. The new rule has changed the way employees' votes are counted in order to favor the union. For 75 years, not voting at all has counted as a no vote. Now, employees who do not vote or cannot vote will lose any chance to weigh in on the question of union representation. In fact, a minority of workers in a class could determine the fate of the entire workforce. This new rule conflicts with the plain language of the statute. The method for selecting a union is expressly described in the Railway Labor Act: "The majority of any craft or class of employees shall have the right to determine who shall be the representatives of the craft or class for the purposes of this Act." No matter what the Board's policy justifications for this rule are, the law is clear. Supporting this resolution will send a message to those who want to change this 75-year-old rule to favor unions in an industry that is already majority unionized.”