FAA Furlough Likely to Continue for Weeks; Parties in Congress Differ on Impact of NMB Union Election Rule
Congress has adjourned for up to five weeks without passing a bill to extend funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, resulting in "unprecedented" furloughs due to a partial shutdown of agency operations. Approximately 4,000 FAA employees are out of work following the July 22 failure of Congress to pass at least a temporary extension of funding for the agency. The furlough impacts engineering and electronics technicians, computer and logistics specialists, and support staff, among other workers.
At the center of the dispute is the Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2011, Part IV (H.R. 2553) which was passed by the House on July 20, 2011 by a mostly party-line vote, 243-177. The heart of the bill, introduced by Rep. John Mica (R-FL), is a fairly standard extension of funding for the FAA, the likes of which has been passed numerous times before throughout recent history. This latest version, however, which was rebuffed by the Senate prior to the adjournment, contains a provision seeking to significantly limit the agency's Essential Air Service Program. House Republicans view the EAS as a costly pork-barrel program.
Some Senators, however, argue that the GOP insistence on these cuts in the short-term funding bill is retribution for the Democrats' objection to earlier versions of the bill which included Republican efforts to reverse the National Mediation Board's new rules facilitating union organizing for airline employees. Regular readers of this blog know that last May, the NMB announced that it was changing a decades-old rule regarding the way votes are counted in union representation elections under the Railway Labor Act (RLA). On May 17, 2010, an association of airlines filed suit to block the rule, but that challenge failed and the rule became effective as of July 1, 2010.
In February 2011, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) introduced legislation to reverse the rule change -- the "Restoring Democracy in the Workplace Act" (H.R. 548). The bill went nowhere beyond committee. Soon thereafter, Rep. Mica introduced a long-term funding extension bill for the FAA (H.R. 658) -- Section 903 provided for repeal of the new NMB rule. The bill passed the House, but stalled in the Senate -- leading to passage of a series of short-term extensions, until now.
Rep. Mica has issued a statement suggesting that the NMB issue is a red-herring in the present debate:
FACT: Senate Democrats are also arguing that the House-passed extension is about a labor provision, but the fact is there is no labor provision in the extension.
Whether the Congress reconvenes ahead of schedule to resolve their differences and fund the FAA remains to be seen -- as will the extent to which, if any, the disputed NMB rule ultimately plays a part.
