The CWA-AFA sought and received an extension to respond to the IAM’s charges of election interference. The IAM filed our submission in a timely manner, even though we still continue to receive additional written complaints, because the IAM understands how important a quick resolution to this matter is.
The IAM’s charges include the CWA-AFA (1) providing multiple hyperlinks to the Board’s voting website in violation of Board rules; (2) holding a voting party; (3) reproducing the Board’s voting instructions and indicating which way to vote; (4) coercing Flight Attendants to tell CWA-AFA how the Flight Attendant voted, among other charges.
Many of these are not new charges against CWA-AFA. In fact, the National Mediation Board admonished CWA-AFA not to engage in such behavior in 2008 during its second of three unsuccessful attempts to organize Delta Air Lines Flight Attendants.
In the matter of reproducing Board materials, the NMB warned CWA-AFA in 2008 that, “Should further investigation establish that such disseminations continue and/or that employees were misled and that the materials at issue undermined the credibility of the Board’s voting processes, the Board will take appropriate action, which could include, but would not be limited to, overturning the election results and imposing a one-year bar.”
In regard to the illegal hyperlink to the voting website, the NMB wrote in 2008 that the “Board may consider hyperlinks to the voting website as possible evidence of election interference.”
And as far as instructing Flight Attendants to contact CWA-AFA to advise how they voted, the NMB said, “The Board reminds the participants that NMB elections are conducted by secret ballot and that the confidentiality of the voting process must be maintained.”
You can read the NMB’s admonishment to CWA-AFA for yourself on the NMB's website here.
The IAM’s protest has larger implications than just this current election. The National Mediation Board has rules in order to ensure fair elections. The CWA-AFA has violated those rules, undermined the voting process, and has been warned in writing that if those violations continued there would be consequences to pay.
If the CWA-AFA is allowed to violate voters’ rights and ignore directives from the federal agency charged with ensuring fair elections, then the whole election process is in jeopardy. Unions cannot ignore voting rules and expect the NMB to force employers to abide by them. If an employer infringed on Flight Attendant’s rights like the CWA-AFA did, any union would charge them with interference. In fact, that is exactly what the CWA-AFA did at Delta Air Lines.
The National Mediation Board said in 2008 that they would sanction the CWA-AFA if they continued violating election rules. The official warnings were ignored and they continued violating the rights of Flight Attendant voters. It is time for the CWA-AFA to face the consequences and for the NMB to overturn the election results to ensure Flight Attendants have a truly fair election.
