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Machinists Pledge to Protect Union Members’ Voting Rights

Dépèche transmise le 1 avril 2011 par Business Wire

Machinists Pledge to Protect Union Members’ Voting Rights

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) will continue to lobby lawmakers to prevent any repeal of majority voting rights recently granted to airline and rail workers by the National Mediation Board.

“Today’s vote to repeal transportation workers’ voting rights sends a cynical and thoroughly un-American message that voters will not soon forget.”

By a 223-196 vote, the GOP-controlled House today approved the FAA Reauthorization Bill, which included a provision to restore archaic voting guidelines that assigned a “no” vote to any employee who did not vote in a union representation election.

“This nation is wide awake to the radical agenda being promoted at the state and national level by corporate lobbyists and their allies in Congress,” said Transportation Vice President Robert Roach, Jr. “Today’s vote to repeal transportation workers’ voting rights sends a cynical and thoroughly un-American message that voters will not soon forget.”

The White House has said that President Obama would veto the FAA bill if it included the anti-union provision. It is also doubtful that the House bill could survive a vote in the Democratically-controlled Senate.

The IAM is among the largest industrial trade unions in North America, representing nearly 700,000 active and retired members in dozens of industries. For more information about the IAM, visit www.goiam.org.