It's Back To Work For The FAA (Sort Of)

Last week ended on a high note with about 4,000 FAA workers and as many as 70,000 construction workers back at their jobs after Congress approved legislation that ended the recent impasse over funding the agency. But the new legislation, which President Obama signed into law within hours of a quick vote in the Senate, still leaves two contentious issues unresolved. “The agreement does not resolve the important differences that still remain,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said last week in a statement announcing the deal. One such important difference is a controversial labor provision. Republicans want to overturn a National Mediation Board rule approved last year that allows airline employees to form a union by a simple majority of those voting. Under the old rule, workers who decided to sit such a vote out were treated as if they’d voted “no.” Beyond the procedural matters of counting votes, the issue pits unionized UPS against nonunionized FedEx and their allies in Congress. The two cargo-shipping giants have each spent millions in a lobbying campaign to settle the matter. As it stands right now, the ruling makes it easier to unionize FedEx. The crux of the matter comes down to the convoluted history of labor law. Before the change, the National Labor Relations Act governed UPS; meanwhile, FedEx fell under the Railway Labor Act. Long story short: the former is much more conducive to unionizing than the latter – and both shippers must now comply with the same rules. FedEx supporters are sure to cry foul over this change in labor law some eight decades after the RLA was enacted. UPS supporters will likely say the new rule levels the playing field. Politicians also can’t agree on the number of flights out of Reagan National Airport. Earlier this year, the Republican-controlled House approved a four-year package that would allow airlines that do not currently use the airport to bid on five nonstop, long-range flights. Meanwhile, the Democrats in control of the Senate passed a different version of the same bill that offers more possible extensions and swaps to existing operations while offering much of the same as the House deal. The issue increases the number of beyond-perimeter slot exemptions at Reagan for flights past a 1,250-mile radius. Western politicians certainly wouldn’t mind opening up these flights to their constituents. Meanwhile, politicians closer to D.C. may stick by the original intent of the perimeter rules - safeguard nearby Washington Dulles International Airport. Lost in all these squabbles is the need for a long-term solution. Congress has kept the FAA funded through a series of hastily crafted, taped-together, stopgap bills for the past four years. We should consider last week’s agreement for what it is – just the latest and 21st temporary extension. So all these issues will be back in the headlines by next month. But let’s save the partisan rhetoric for the big issues of the day – unemployment; the national debt; the use of military, for example. Funding the FAA shouldn’t rank that highly in political fever – and the FAA and an industry shouldn’t be kept in limbo without a steady deal since 2007.