Teamsters Applaud Senate for Upholding Union Voting Reforms

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International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Sep 23, 2010, 05:12 ET

Hoffa: NMB Change Makes Voting More Democratic

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today praised the Senate for upholding the National Mediation Board's reform of union elections at airlines and railroads.

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The NMB changed the rule to let a union be certified if a majority of the employees who vote support it. The rule previously required majority support of all airline or rail workers eligible to vote to be certified as a union. The rule brings union elections up to modern standards of democratic election law.

"The NMB reform finally lets airline and railroad workers' votes be counted according to today's election standards in the United States," Hoffa said. "Whichever side gets the most votes wins.

"I'm pleased that the majority party in the Senate defeated an attempt by anti-union groups to undermine a fairer system for workers who want to join a union."

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., introduced a joint resolution of disapproval today in an attempt to overturn the NMB rule.

"The deck is stacked against workers who want to form a union," Hoffa said. "Those who voted in the Senate to proceed to the joint resolution were deliberately trying to undermine workers' right to form a union."

The NMB is a federal agency created in 1934 under the Railway Labor Act to oversee labor relations in the railroad and airline industries.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters