Does anybody know more about this?

37 NMB No. 9 - 62 –


NOTICE TO PILOTS OF CAPE AIR (HYANNIS AIR SERVICE, INC.)

After an investigation conducted by the National Mediation Board (Board), in which Cape Air (Hyannis Air Service, Inc.) (Cape Air), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), and the Cape Air Pilots Association (CAPA) had the opportunity to present statements and evidence, the Board found that Cape Air’s conduct interfered with, influenced, or coerced employees' choice of representative in an election conducted pursuant to Section 2, Ninth, of the Railway Labor Act (RLA).

Accordingly, the Board authorizes a second election by Telephone Electronic Voting (TEV) and Internet Voting among Cape Air’s Pilots. The list of eligible voters will consist of those eligible to vote in the first election, with the exception of those who have left the craft or class. A copy of this Notice will also be mailed to all eligible voters with the election materials. During the election period, the Investigator will be available to immediately investigate any further allegations.
Section 2, Fourth, of the RLA allows employees the right to select representatives without carrier influence or interference.

Cape Air is not permitted to influence, interfere, or coerce employees in any manner in an effort to induce them to participate or refrain from participating in the upcoming election.

For questions concerning this Notice or compliance with its provisions, communicate with the National Mediation Board at [email protected].




A buddy of mine over at Cape Air sent this to me. He said that a lot of guys he knows are sorry they bought into this in-house union. This just struck me because I have never seen anything like this before. Does anyone know what’s going on?

Well, the NMB put out a 30 pages document describing why there's going to be a re-vote. It might be publicly available, I dunno. Without airing dirty laundry, I can tell you that the company wasn't maliciously interfering; really, it just came down to a couple ill-timed "op-ed" letters from upper management to the pilot group put out just before the vote. There were a couple other things, but those were the big ones. They weren't taking union supporters out back and shooting them or anything.

My personal feelings about CAPA aside, I have to hand it to them for quickly negotiating an ASAP program for us ('bout time). At this point I just want to see a contract, and with all of this drama I'm just afraid that it's going to be a while until we have one.

The NMB conducted an investigation of the activities prior to the election and concluded that Cape Air Management had “tainted the laboratory conditions”. Management’s actions suggest that they interfered with the intent to sway the election towards CAPA. I believe most managements would prefer not to have a union on the property so when management supports any specific union, well, red flags should go up.
The sad thing about the elections was that about 1/3 of the pilot group didn’t vote at all. So CAPA was representing a pilot group of which only a little over 1/3 of members actually voted for.