I agree that the door should swing both ways as long as things are truly equal. What would start a vote for decertification? The same as certification? As long as unions have the same access and freedoms as the companies I would be in favor of it.
The current process where a non-cast vote is counted in favor of the company is patently unfair and un-democratic. However workers should have more choices as far as representation, while raiding can be disruptive and destructive its better than the singular option of stay with what you have or no union at all. Its sad that todays business union leaders would rather see workers go non-union than see them go to another union. The penalities for dual unionsim are severe yet the penalties for leaving the union and going into management are non-existant. How often have we seen union dues used to train union officials who go directly from their union position into a management position? But thats ok, and the union accepts their freedom of choice, the guy could turn around and go back on the floor and face no penalties, but if a rank worker tries to change unions he faces severe discipline.
I feel that the majority of airline workers would favor consolidation of the labor movement within the industry but unfortunately since Business unionism rules the day, we dont see our leaders pushing for this, instead they seek to protect their own feifdoms at the expense of the greater good.
One example of feifdoms being destructive is Delta, where the IAM is organizing, the IAM is just looking to re-establish a larger presence in the airline industry, if you worked at Delta would you pick the same union that represents USAIR or the company that your company just bought, who worked at lower rates of pay, as your union? Its the pay stupid! Workers arent going to vote for a union that promises them a paycut or a loss of seniority.
I suggested years ago that the AFL-CIO unions should get together and merge their airline divisions into a big airline union, then unions could stop putting their members in a race to the bottom as the unions compete for dues, or if they couldnt agree to that, then each union pick a class and craft and take them all into one union then they could establish rates that are consistant throughout the industry so airlines would need a different approach other than canabalizing their workers in order to gain a competitive edge. The IAM will likely lose at Delta, thus keeping a carrier that should be an easy mark for unionization non-union for at least another year. The only benifit I see is that if Delta gets concerned that the IAM will be successful Delta will raise their workers to industry leading pay in order to kill the drive. This is where the one union concept also makes sense. Forcing Delta to raise wages to keep unions out helps every other worker in the industry, so the $2million or so the unions spend in organizing is worth it because it translates into hundreds of millions in increased wages for the whole industry. But under the current structure which union should dump the millions into something that not only benifits their members but members paying dues to other unions? "The greater good fine, but not on this unions dime' is the prevailing logic. There should be constant organizing drives at Delta, either the unions get Delta as members or they get more leverage at the bargaining table for the members they already have at other carriers because Delta will keep having to raise wages in order to stave off the unions.
By opening the door for easier access to union representation and on the flip side easier decertification if they are not happy with that representation, the labor movement would become stronger because they would have to produce or be ousted. Those who choose not to vote in a democracy should not be counted by either side.
