Norwegian US based CC vote to join powerful union

[Direct Bondi]

Norwegian began a new era yesterday as the majority of its US based “employees” voted to join the powerful, 700,000 member, national AFA union. The AFA is part of the AFL-CIO federation of 55 unions with a combined membership of 12.5 million – Press release link:

http://www.afacwa.org/u_s_based_norwegian_join_afa

Flight Global reports; “Norwegian and OSM are looking into these election results” – Link:

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/norwegians-us-flight-attendants-join-unions-435728/

Norwegian’s AFA membership will have national union representation during snowstorms and at all other times.

Will Norwegian's US based pilots also seek national union representation?

[TowerDog]

. Will Norwegian's US based pilots also seek national union representation?

How many pilots are US based?
Can't be that many yet, a handful in KFLL on the 787 and they are still recruiting for the 737-MAX further North?
Wish them luck, but probably not enough bodies in the bases yet.

[Zaphod Beblebrox]

Some legal background for those not on the US side of the pond. Air-carriers are entities defined by the 1926 Railway Labor Act. The Railway Labor Act, or RLA, is considered one of the first major pieces of National US Labor legislation.

The RLA defines the parties and their roles in transportation. The minute you define something you also define what it is not. The critical thing here is that the governing body that does this defining and sees to the administration of the relations between management and labor in the Railway and Airline industry is the National Mediation Board, or NMB. The National Mediation Board served as the model of the later National Labor Relations Board, a creation Roosevelt Administration during the great depression in the 1930's.

The first title of the Railway Labor Act, United States Code, 45 Section 152 states:

First. Duty of carriers and employees to settle disputes

It shall be the duty of all carriers, their officers, agents, and employees to exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, and working conditions, and to settle all disputes, whether arising out of the application of such agreements or otherwise, in order to avoid any interruption to commerce or to the operation of any carrier growing out of any dispute between the carrier and the employees thereof.

It is my understanding that Norwegian has used a lot of, what can only be called creative construction, in it's organization and management. Norwegian has been outsourcing a lot of its non core parts. Pilots did not work for an air-carrier they work for an employment firm. The Carrier is not based in the country it is serving but was essentially a Norwegian firm with an Irish cover and other countries, too many for me to count, involved in various aspects of its operation. It appears that this was done to get around labor laws in various countries.

A smart lawyer and some flight attendants filed a notice of representational dispute with the NMB, which caused the NMB to conduct an investigation. The results of that investigation was that the NMB determined that Norwegian was an Air Carrier according to the RLA and therefore governed under the RLA. This determination was made despite Norwegians supposed citizenship in various other countries and its complex organizational structure.



What this means in the US is that any employee group working for Norwegian, or another foreign carrier, may petition the NMB with a dispute and seek recognition of Class and Craft for labor and force the carrier to negotiate. It doesn't mean that there will be a quick contract, but as the general declaration of the RLA states,[IT SHALL BE THE DUTY...]. The US Supreme Court has held that this statement places a positive duty on Carriers and Represented Employees to negotiate and reach agreements. It binds the carrier to behave in a way that limits its ability to change and subvert labor law.



This first small finding by the NMB could have great effect on other carries seeking to operate in the US. Those entities having a very loose multi-national management and employment structure, may still be subject to US labor law, weak as it is in some respects. I think it is a great finding by the NMB and positive for labor on the whole.