Obama's mediation board taking up American's union requests under scrutiny

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-nmb_11bus.ART.State.Edition1.3db76c2.html

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, April 11, 2010

By TERRY MAXON / The Dallas Morning News
tmaxon@dallasnews.com

This week, the National Mediation Board will take up the requests of two American Airlines Inc. unions that want to be released from mediation and be allowed to strike.


A 1997 strike by American pilots was stopped quickly with appointment of a presidential emergency board.


So what will it do in the cases of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants and Transport Workers Union?

This is the first time the board has faced such a request involving a major carrier since President Barack Obama took office in January 2009. And the industry – both airline managements and unions – are looking to see how the NMB handles these cases.

"What you're asking me in part is a political question," said Fordham University finance professor Frank Werner. "My guess is that the National Mediation Board is not going to be very excited about allowing a 30-day cooling period."

Ray Abernathy, a Washington, D.C.-based labor consultant, said unions aren't looking for an advantage, just a fair chance. That hasn't been the case for the past 30 years, he said.

"I don't think you'll get preferential treatment out of the Obama administration or the NMB," said Abernathy, who advised American's flight attendants in their 1993 contract battle and strike.

FULL story at link.