NMB Rejects Request to Delay Vote Count at RAH
Responding on Friday to a filing by RAH management regarding the vote count for union representation of the combined RAH/Midwest Express/Lynx and Frontier pilot units, the NMB notified management that their request to delay the vote count had been rejected by the Board. The pilot groups; whose separate seniority lists were submitted to a Federal arbitrator for integration, which was accomplished late last year, fly for the various carriers owned by Republic Holdings (RAH).
The pilots of Frontier; whose current union FAPA (Frontier Airline Pilots Association) rejected an agreement that would have seen the carrier sold to Southwest, are actively engaged in a campaign to decertify the IBT Airline Division as the bargaining agent for the entire merged pilot group. Recently they filed suit to overturn the arbitrated seniority list and also began separate contract negotiations with RAH management. In exchange for steep concessions, they expected to receive an ownership stake in the carrier; which continues to struggle financially. In comments earlier this week, RAH CEO Brian Bedford stated that the concessionary pilot agreement would be a critical part of the future survival of the carrier.
In rejecting the request by the company, the NMB noted that:
“…It is the NMB's longstanding policy consistent…to resolve representation disputes as expeditiously as possible…(“The RLA furthers Congress' strong policy of guaranteeing employees the right to organize and collectively bargain free from any carrier interference or influence … delays in NMB precertification proceedings seriously hamper such organizational efforts…”). In this case, the Board finds that postponing the ongoing election involving the Pilots at Republic Airlines et al. /Frontier would be at odds with this statutory mandate. It is well established that in representation disputes, the Act deals with the present status and interests of employees involved and not with potential future status and interests of employees…RAH does not cite any Board precedent to support its request and the Board, when faced with similar facts in past cases, has denied requests to delay representation investigations pending the completion of business transactions.”
The vote is scheduled to be counted on July 27th.
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