In July 2011, the IAM filed a protest of the Continental/United/CMI Flight Attendant election with the National Mediation Board. By mid-September, the parties had made all of their written submissions to the Board. That is the first step in the process.

The Board is now reviewing those submissions and will decide if there is sufficient evidence of election interference by CWA-AFA and/or United to warrant moving to the next stage, a more in-depth, comprehensive investigation.

If the Board decides to conduct a full investigation, it will likely send investigators out to many of the stations to conduct in-person interviews with randomly selected Flight Attendants. After it completes that phase of the investigation, the Board will issue a written decision on whether or not there was interference.

Unfortunately, there are no time periods by which the NMB must complete any of these steps. History has demonstrated that to fully investigate these matters and issue written decisions can take up to a year.

As always, as soon as we learn any additional information, we will keep you updated.