Washington, DC (January 10, 2011) – The National Right to Work Foundation, which provides free legal assistance to employees nationwide, is urging Congress to investigate a recent rule change at the National Mediation Board (NMB) that dramatically increases the power of union officials to organize workers in the airline and railway industries. Foundation President Mark Mix submitted letters to Representatives John Kline, John Mica, and Darrell Issa on Wednesday, encouraging them to open an immediate investigation into the NMB’s new election procedures.

Last year, the Board hastily implemented new union certification procedures over the objections of NMB Chair Elizabeth Dougherty. Foundation attorneys currently represent five Delta employees who are challenging the NMB’s rule change in federal court.

The two NMB members who voted to approve the new rule, Harry Hoglander and Linda Puchala, are former union officials with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and Association of Flight Attendants (AFA). Both unions were a major part of an AFL-CIO-led coalition that prompted the NMB to discard its previous election procedures, which had remained in force for 75 years under both Democratic and Republican Administrations.

Foundation attorneys state that the procedural changes “stack the deck” in favor of forced unionization. Under these new rules, the threshold for unionization is lowered to a standard that would allow a minority of workers to certify a union as the monopoly bargaining agent for all employees in a given workplace.

Foundation attorneys believe that the new rule is unconstitutional because it violates workers’ rights of freedom of association and due process. The rule change is particularly troubling because the procedure for workers to eject an unwanted union in the rail and airline industries is lengthier and more complicated than in other industries.

“A hastily-implemented rule change shepherded through by two former union officials is about to deprive thousands of workers of their right to free and fair workplace elections,” said Patrick Semmens, Legal Information Director for the National Right to Work Foundation. “We urge Congressmen Issa, Kline, and Mica to immediately launch an investigation into this gross violation of employee rights.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.