John Mica Attacks the Unions in H.R. 658

COMMENTARY | By way of explanation, H.R. 658 is titled "The FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011." In it are a number of provisions the members of both parties in both houses can agree on, but there is one provision in the House bill that flies directly in the face of the Senate version.

According to unitedafa.org, the flight attendants' union and House Transportation Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., want to add a provision to a bill otherwise concerned with the operation of the FAA that will require a majority of all workers in a group seeking unionization to vote yes in order for the union to be recognized within the airline and railway industries. Note, that it is not a majority of the votes cast, which is how all our political elections are decided, but a majority of all members of the work group, whether they voted or not. Anyone failing to vote would be considered a no-vote for unionization. Here is the official explanation of the provision, found on page 10 of the CBO report.

Congressman Mica must not be too proud of that idea. A look at his official website does not show him boasting about that accomplishment, at least among his issues and his press releases.

As a matter of fact, not all of his fellow transportation committee Republicans are wild about the idea. To them, if not most of the Democrats, the issue is less about whether or not unions are good for the industry. In fact, you could argue they may be harmful to such struggling enterprises. What seems to be at stake here is a fundamental question of how we are to function as a democracy.

Republican Candice Miller of Minnesota had this to say about the issue, among other things:

"That (election by a majority of voters) is the fundamental caveat of our democracy, and how we conduct elections. Why should a union election be any different?"

In spite of some rare dissent from his own party colleagues, Mica managed to ram the provision through, and it is now part of the House bill. To be sure, neither the Senate nor the President is going to accept that highly undemocratic rule. Will that mean the FAA goes unfunded in the zeal to break unions?