1. United States
2. Hawaii
3. Letter

I’m concern about the number of ongoing, protracted contract negotiations between parties before the National Mediation Board. Thousands of workers across the country who are currently being subjected to drawn out contract negotiations, and I urge you to use the tools at your disposal to ensure the timely resolution of these cases. I want to acknowledge the work of the National Mediation Board in dealing with the unprecedented level of bargaining in recent years due to pent-up demand from delayed bargaining during COVID. With the NMB’s assistance, most of these negotiations are settled, demonstrating the professionalism and hard work of the Board and your staff. We are committed to providing you the resources to do your job moving forward. However, I’m concerned about the increasing number of contract negotiations before the NMB that are being unfairly drawn out to the detriment of workers. I understand that there are certain ongoing negotiations that have dragged on for as long as five years, and I have heard from workers who are justifiably concerned that they are being subjected to unfair delays in the bargaining process. For example, I know that over 100,00 flight attendants are currently in contract negotiations, many of whom are working under the terms of contracts that are now several years past the contract amendable dates. Furthermore, many of these workers were on the frontlines throughout the Covid pandemic and made countless sacrifices to keep their companies financially afloat, and it is important that they are able to reap the benefits of the collective bargaining process in a timely manner. I’m concerned that the reason for these increasingly prolonged negotiations is due in part to the recent inability of workers to avail themselves of self-help options to facilitate labor disputes. It has long been understood that the best way to achieve labor peace is through collective bargaining backed by the threat of “self-help” for both parties, including the right to strike for workers. Indeed, workers across a range of professions have secured groundbreaking new contracts in recent years, many of which were won due to workers’ credible ability to exercise self-help options. But, over recent decades, workers’ ability to utilize self-help options has been eroded. In fact, there have there been only two releases to strike of airline workers since 2006, the last being Spirit Airlines Pilots in 2010, compared to dozens in the 1980s and 1990s. Thus, management has little incentive to reach agreements with their workers in a timely manner and many companies have used this development to their advantage, resulting in interminable negotiations and unnecessary labor strife. This strains the resources of the NMB while delaying much-needed improvements in the lives for tens of thousands of frontline workers. We urge the Board to use all of the tools at its disposal to encourage the resolution of disputes with ratified agreements that are overdue.