The Federal Aviation Administration faces another partial shutdown this month, as members of Congress square off in a dispute whose key combatants are Delta Air Lines and airline industry unions.
A stopgap funding measure expires in less than two weeks, and both Republicans and Democrats say they want to avoid a repeat of the 13-day shutdown in late July and early August. That stalemate forced 4,000 FAA employees — not including air traffic controllers — and 70,000 contract workers temporarily off the job.
Congress came up with a temporary compromise, but the chief sticking point — a decision by the National Mediation Board to issue a new rule that makes it easier for employees in the airline and railroad industries to unionize — remains unresolved, and the clock is ticking.
No construction projects at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport were halted by the first shutdown, but airport general manager Louis Miller said funding for a $190 million package of major improvements could be delayed by a second one.
The unionization decision has evoked continuing outcry from Republicans and the airlines, in particular from largely non-union, Atlanta-based Delta.
Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., sponsored a resolution in the Senate condemning the decision, but it failed in a floor vote. House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., inserted a provision in a long-term FAA funding bill to overturn the NMB ruling, but the Obama administration and the Democrat-run Senate rejected that idea.
In a speech at the White House on Wednesday, President Obama urged Congress to pass a “clean” extension of the FAA bill, meaning no policy changes such as the one Mica sought. The White House already has threatened to veto a bill that overrides the NMB’s rule change.
Delta spokeswoman Gina Laughlin said last week that the company supports an extension of FAA funding but continues to oppose the NMB decision to issue the new rule, which Delta argues went far beyond the board’s mandate.
“It’s about restoring fairness and balance to an agency that’s supposed to operate in a neutral manner,” Laughlin said.
During the July-August shutdown, 336 of the FAA’s 2,500 employees in the Atlanta area, were furloughed and airport inspectors were forced to work without pay. The shutdown also halted airport construction projects, but the only active Atlanta project that was put on hold was a restroom overhaul at a FAA facility. Controllers, who are considered essential personnel, continued to work.
The FAA has been funded by a series of short-term bills since 2007 as the parties have wrangled over issues involving the industry. This spring the House passed a four-year, $59.7 billion bill and the Senate passed a two-year, $34.5 billion version. The House has not yet appointed members to a conference committee to iron out differences between the two bills.
Isakson, though he is one of the NMB decision’s most strident critics, has been a go-between between the two bodies and has said that he is working to find a compromise.
“I agree with [Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.] that we need a reauthorization,” Isakson said in a Senate floor speech in June. “But I also think we need a balanced playing field with NMB.” Isakson said he agrees with Delta that the airlines, as well as the unions, should have the right to seek a court review of NMB decisions with which they disagree.
Rockefeller, who chairs the Commerce Committee, and other Senate Democrats have fought to keep the NMB ruling in place. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., specifically named Delta during the early August shutdown as the biggest roadblock to an agreement, and labor leaders have attacked the company as well.
“That’s a testimony to the effect of lobbying by Delta,” AFL-CIO spokesman Jeff Hauser said, when asked how the NMB decision took on such prominence in the FAA fight.
Because their activities inherently transcend state lines, the airline and railroad industries have long been governed by a separate legal apparatus. Employees in the two industries form only national unions, not locals, and the hurdles to certify or decertify a union always have been higher than in other industries.
Unionization has declined across the country in recent decades. During the last Congress, unions and their Democratic allies hoped to reverse the slide by passing the Employee Free Choice Act, which would have smoothed the path to forming unions in several ways. The effort failed, leaving the mediation boards as the new battleground.
Despite the clamor, the NMB rule change has had no immediate impact on Delta. Late last year, four groups of workers staged union votes as part of the company’s merger with unionized Northwest Airlines. All four votes failed under the new rules. Some of the unions, though, are challenging the votes and accusing Delta of intimidation.
Delta is the most high-profile opponent of the new rule, but many airlines have banded together to oppose the rule through the Washington-based Air Transport Association. JetBlue CEO Dave Barger also wrote a letter to the Senate in July saying he would like to see the rule overturned, although he also proposed a potential compromise: apply the same voting standards to getting rid of a union as to voting one in.
It is unclear whether both parties and both chambers could embrace such a solution. In any case, the dispute figures to be a hot item on the agenda when Congress returns next week.
“The stakes are high,” Rockefeller spokesman Vince Morris wrote in an email. “And we’re hopeful that the FAA isn’t again shut down for political points.”
About the Author
