National Mediation Board Issues Revised Representation Manual
On August 19, 2010, the National Mediation Board (NMB) posted on its website the updated sections of its Representation Manual reflecting the rules changes implemented in July of this year. In May 2010, the NMB announced that it was changing a decades-old rule regarding the way votes are counted in RLA union representation elections. The new standard, the "majority of votes cast" standard, is essentially the standard applied by the National Labor Relations Board in elections under the NLRA -- a union is declared the representative of a unit of employees if a majority of the employees who cast valid ballots vote for union representation. In June, a federal judge granted judgment for NMB in a suit challenging the new rules, allowing the Board to proceed with implementation.
Interestingly, the memorandum sent by the Board to all carriers and labor organizations announcing these developments also notes:
This Notice will be the last mailed (via snail mail) to participants from the Office of Legal Affairs. All subsequent mailings will be sent to our participants via email. If you have not already done so, please provide your email address to Legal@nmb.gov so you will receive future correspondence from the Office of Legal Affairs.
