NMB Announces Investigation – But Just Who’s Being Investigated?
By now you’ve probably heard that the NMB (National Mediation Board) is investigating alleged election interference in the Delta/AFA union election (as well as the Delta/IAM union election).
True.
What you’ve probably also heard is the AFA’s spin that somehow, in some stretch of the imagination, the NMB has agreed with the AFA that it is Delta management that is being investigated.
Not true.
In fact, NMB General Counsel Mary L. Johnson’s June 1 letter to both Delta and
the AFA clearly states that:
- “After reviewing the submissions provided by AFA and Delta, I find that in order for the Board to determine whether the laboratory conditions were tainted, further investigation is needed. The investigator will be in contact with the participants to schedule interview and an on-site investigation.”
The letter doesn’t state that the NMB agrees with the AFA, whatsoever – in fact, any first-year law student could tell us that such a letter couldn’t state agreement with either side, as that completely prejudges the announced investigation. What AFA fails to recognize in their June 1 press release is that both parties are entitled to due process. In other words, The NMB has to conduct their investigation first and then make a determination, not the other way around.
This begs the question: Is AFA lying to us (once again), or are AFA’s attorneys, officers and officials so simple-minded as to not understand NMB rules or basic due process, and if that’s the case, what else do they or don’t they understand?
So what exactly is happening? The NMB is investigating allegations made by the AFA, as well as those made by Delta. For example, the NMB will review AFA’s allegation that outside websites (such as the NMB voting site) can NOT be accessed via Delta computers, without first logging in.
If you'd like to see for yourself how ridiculous AFA's spurious charges are, visit DeltaNet and click on the link next to Delta’s stock price (it takes you to a Yahoo financial page – while you’re at it, go ahead and see if you get to other websites from there). You'll see that, contrary to AFA's whiny claim, it is entirely possible to access third party websites from Delta computers, without first logging in with your employee number and password.
Who Else Is Being Investigated?
None other than the NMB – BY CONGRESS – yes, the same NMB that after more than 75 years of consistently applied union election rules changed those election rules for … that’s right, you guessed it, the AFA/Delta flight attendant representation election.
Could it be coincidence that the NMB changed its long-time rules after former AFA President and recently appointed NMB member Linda Puchula took office (at the NMB)? That’s one question that the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will determine. Expect lots of questions, subpoenas, and Congressional hearings (grillings). The NMB will have to justify the rule changes, and have to explain why the rules weren’t changed for other elections that were held concurrently with the AFA/Delta election, including other AFA elections. It should be interesting and compelling, and future NMB appointments (and reappointments) will hang in the offing.
So What About those NEW NMB Rules?
That’s a good question, because with the changes, and recent reversal (in rule changes) made by the NMB, there are legitimate questions as to what rules apply/don’t apply, will apply/not apply in future elections. In fact, the NMB has already reversed itself on how write-in votes should be counted, as well as other ballot matters. It hardly seems right in a democratic society that a politically charged three member panel should have the authority to make electoral decisions that could impact millions of U.S. workers.
That aside, all of these rules (whatever they may be) will likely change, given the Congressional inquiry into the NMB; they may also change as Congress is still ironing-out an FAA funding bill (which includes a reversal of the NMB’s 2010 election rule change).
So while it will be awhile before we know the outcome of the NMB investigation, or of the Congressional investigation into the NMB, we do know that the former Northwest flight attendants have been held hostage by the AFA bureaucracy for over three years now. That's how long Veda Shook and the AFA attorneys have shoved our noses in a concessionary contract, first by unnecessarily delaying the representational election and then refusing to accept the democratic outcome of that election.
AFA continues to delay their inevitable defeat, and each day they delay costs its former members money, flexibility and quality of life. It’s time for AFA to give up the ghost and let us move forward, by withdrawing their delusionary interference claims.
Sincerely,
Jose Arturo Ibarra
