This story makes no sense.

"Current labor contracts effectively bar major U.S. carriers from relying on information gathered from cockpit-recorders, or, in some cases, flight-data recorders to punish pilots or monitor their performance during trips. But the proposed legislation seeks to overturn those longstanding restrictions in both areas, which is already riling pilot union leaders."

To wit: no matter what Congress passes, labor can still negotiate to not allow the company to use CVR or FDR data to punish/monitor performance.

Frankly, I was unaware that most companies don't already have this right, and I didn't know most labor unions (as this implies) already spend negotiating capital on this.

I think this story is trying to say that Congress wants the FAA to randomly sample CVR's and FDR's for improper pilot procedure. While this certainly would SUCK, I'd have to say, get used to the idea. I think as technology gets better and better, airplanes and pilots are only going to be monitored more and more.

The rub is that it probably WILL improve safety. It's also going to weed out more pilots, most of whom probably won't deserve it. Ah well.