Flight attendant testifies on NMB overreach; says union has "held us hostage"

Delta attendants at the 9/14 hearing,
photo courtesy of the Oversight Comm.

Big Labor, assisted by the Obama administration, has been trying its hardest to unionize Delta Airlines' flight attendants. Mathew Palmer, a Delta flight attendant, testified last week in front of the House Oversight Committee about this union shoving.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is the chairman of that committee. "The regulatory process is broken, being manipulated and exploited in an effort to reward allies of the Obama Administration such as environmental groups, trial lawyers, and unions," he said in his opening statement.

Three times the Association of Flight Attendants have held elections to organize Delta flight attendants, three times the union lost. But in a maneuver reminiscent of the 1972 Olympic men's championship basketball game--when a shadowy committee stole the Gold Medal from Team USA, the National Mediation Board (NMB) changed an election rule so its side--Big Labor--would more likely prevail. In previous union elections in the airline and rail industries, a non-vote vote counted as a "No" vote.

But guess what? The AFA lost under the new rule.

Since AFA's organizing assault began, Delta merged with Northwest Airlines, which complicated the dispute. Like a mugger at night taking advantage of his environment, the AFA pounced.

"The AFA held us hostage for more than eight months to assure that new union-friendly appointees were a majority of the NMB before filing for an election that would allow Delta flight attendants to have a voice in the representation process," Palmer told the Oversight Committee. He continued, "[t]he NMB and the AFA have now continued to hold us hostage for over three years since our merger with Northwest. And the end of this process is not in sight."

Palmer also said that he can discuss "hours of horror stories about this union from friends at every airline with AFA representation."

"This is a government of the people, for the people," Palmer concluded, "not the unions."

Click here to read Palmer's testimony.

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