National Mediation Board recommendation

Here's a subtle but powerful item to help American organized labor. The National Mediation Board has proposed changes to the Railway Labor Act that would base the outcome of union elections at airlines on the majority approval of people who vote. The current rules require a majority of an entire work group to vote for a union in order for it to be certified, meaning a worker choosing not to vote at all is casting a "no" vote.

This is a subtle but important change. For a union to be accepted meant it had to get the majority of the workforce involved to vote in favor. Now it will not have to - it just needs to make sure all those who are fired up vote. This makes it much easier for Unions to get their way. We expect this subtly not to go unnoticed by management. Especially at airlines and Boeing.

In other news --

• KPMG comes out in favor of oneworld
• Ryanair numbers
• Airbus' nice win at ANZ
• Some funny links overnight

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