Originally Posted by
crxpilot
What would it take to change some rules in the NMB regarding RLA? Is it an act of Congress? Is it a board vote? Seriously, I am surprised that some labor group has not try to change some of the rules, at least to make it more level. Instead of having no timeline to come to an agreement before a cooling off period, say negotiate for 2 years, no agreement - automatic proffer and wait for another 6 months, no agreement - automatic 30 day cooling off agreement. Something like that. How can the rules be proposed to be changed?
The NLRB (the non-RLA analog of the NMB) governs most unions of most industries, and it does contain automatic/timeline-based provisions to prevent stalled labor negotiations. We're stuck with the RLA/NMB as a matter of history.
Related note--what ever happend to those CAL guys who were pushing for an Airline Labor Act/Airline Retirement Board? I think it was around 2007-2009--some CAL pilots were trying to raise public awareness about the glaring absurdity of the RLA. Specifically, how railroad workers are stuck with the RLA like we are, but in return they get a massive benefit--they don't pay social security/FICA taxes, they pay into their own federally-managed social insurance scheme, the Railroad Retirement Board.
From Wikipedia: "At the end of fiscal year 2010, the average annuity paid to career rail employees was $2,760 a month, compared to $1,170 a month under Social Security"