Labor Relations in the Aviation and Aerospace Industries

Preface

Preface Unlikeanyotherindustry,labor-managementrelations and collective bargaining in aviation encompasstheentirerangeofU .S.laborlaw.Other current labor-relations texts focus almost exclusivelyontheNationalLaborRelationsActof1935 (NLRA) as administered by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and mention only in passing, if at all, the Railway Labor Act of 1926 (RLA) administered by the National Mediation Board (NMB). (The full texts of the RLA and NLRA are in appendixes A and B, respectively.) But in the aviation industry, the RLA governslaborrelationsin “everycommoncarrierby air engaged in interstate or foreign commerce,” including not only the major and regional airlinesbutalsocharterandevenfractionalaircraft operators:thelion’sshareofcommercialactivity in air transportation.1 And the aerospace industry that designs and manufactures the aircraft and components is governed by the NLRA, as are some general aviation activities. The federal government is deeply involved in establishing standards for civil aircraft certification , flight operations, and airports along with operating the air traffic control system. Its labor relations are governed by yet another set of federal laws administered by another set of federal agencies. Finally, most air carrier and general aviation reliever airports are owned and operated by local and regional governmental entities whose labor relations are subject to the panoply of differing state laws administered by a variety of state agencies. All of these laws are executed by administrative agencies that issue and enforce regulations tocarryoutthelegislature’sintent.Thestatutes, regulations, and actions of all of these legislatures , regulators, management, and unions are continuously subject to judicial review in cases that interpret and judge their legality and constitutionality , building a considerable body of case law in the process. Weauthors,alluniversityprofessorsteaching the subject, originally came together intending tocontributetoupdatingleadauthorRobertW. Kaps’s 1997 Air Transport Labor Relations, the seminaltext,alsopublishedbySouthernIllinois University Press, on collective bargaining in the airline industry. Our early discussions, however, ledtoagreementthattomorefullyservetheneeds andinterestsofourstudentsandourindustry,we should expand the scope of the work to include not only the airlines but also the entire aviation andaerospaceindustry,underlyingpublicairport infrastructure, and related government employers . As we plunged into the research phase, it becamequicklyapparentthatalthoughfoundedon that earlier work, what we were creating had so outgrown the original concept as to constitute a new book. This is it. LaborRelationsintheAviationandAerospace Industries is designed to be used in conjunction withtheaccompanyingstudyguidebothasauniversitytextandasareferenceguideformanagers , employees,andunionrepresentativesintheaviationandaerospaceindustries ,publicairports,and aviation-related government service. Many terms in this book are defined in the glossary, and most of the organizations are also described there. Our use of italics within a sentencemaysignifytheintroductionofanewterm defined in the glossary, although it is also occasionally used for emphasis. Unless otherwise noted, opinions expressed areoursanddonotpurporttorepresentthoseof our employers, past or present, or the publisher. We hope you will find this book both informative and thought provoking. xv ...