ATA disappointed with mediation board decision

US' National Mediation Board announced a change to the union representation voting rules of the 1926 Railway Labour Act will be upheld and go into effect from 01-Jul-2010 (Bloomberg, 28-Jun-2010). The Air Transport Association of America (ATA) previously filed a lawsuit against the NMB in a bid to prevent the new ruling. Under the new rule, unreturned ballots will no longer be counted as "no" votes.

ATA stated it is "disappointed with the court's ruling and believe[s] the National Mediation Board does not have the authority to impose this new rule". [more - ATA]

Meanwhile, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) announced support for new voting procedures proposed by the NMB. [more - AFA-CWA]