Unions Vie for Votes in Merger of Airlines

Unions Vie for Votes in Merger of Airlines By Chris Maher | July 30, 2013   The Transport Workers Union has accused the International Brotherhood of Teamsters of forging hundreds of workers’ signatures, amid a fight to represent mechanics at soon-to-be-merged US Airways Group Inc. and American Airlines parent AMR Corp. The TWU filed the allegations last week with the National Mediation Board, the agency overseeing an election that will ask the 12,000 mechanics at American whether they want to remain in the TWU or join the Teamsters. The allegations, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, include affidavits from two people who said they were employed by the Teamsters as organizers when they learned that others had forged documents. Forging cards used to seek unionization elections is a violation of the mediation board’s rules, and the TWU argues that it is a criminal offense under a law that prohibits making false statements to the federal government. “There were authorization cards from at least 1,500 workers who had never been seen, spoken to, or assessed,” one Teamster organizer wrote in an affidavit. A Teamster spokeswoman said the union didn’t have a comment. In a letter dated July 29 to the … Continue reading →