Airlines oppose election rule change unions want

ATLANTA, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) has come out against the AFL-CIO's request for a rule change that would base the outcome of union elections at airlines on the number of votes cast instead of a majority of eligible members of a worker group.

A unit of the largest U.S. labor federation filed the request with the National Mediation Board earlier this month. The change would apply to aviation and rail workers covered by the Railway Labor Act, a law that dates back to the 1920s.

"We're trying to just conform the rules to apply in the same way that you see them in every other elective procedure in the U.S economy," Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, said on Friday.

"We believe that the current procedures are undemocratic and they allow a silent minority in a company to veto what would otherwise be an election in favor of a union," Wytkind added.

A National Mediation Board spokesman said the agency had received the AFL-CIO request but had no other comment.

Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson said this week in a memo to employees that the proposed change was "politically motivated and would abandon rules that have worked well for 75 years."

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers recently moved to seek elections to represent more than 30,000 workers at Delta, which was largely non-union before acquiring Northwest Airlines last year.

Anderson said the rule change sought by the AFL-CIO would allow a union to represent a workgroup with the support of a "small minority" of workers.

"The AFA and IAM know they can't win the support of a majority of Delta employees so they're trying to change the voting rules," Anderson's memo stated.

Union victories could lessen Delta's ability to controlcosts as slumping travel demand hurts profits.

The Air Transport Association, which represents major U.S. carriers, also weighed in against the proposed rule change.

In a Sept. 10 letter to the mediation board, an ATA lawyer said the board had rejected such requests at least four times before and argued such a change would require congressional action.

"The value of majority-supported unions is as compelling today as it was when the RLA voting process was established by the Board 75 years ago," the ATA lawyer wrote.

The Regional Airline Association, which represents U.S. regional carriers, also wrote the National Mediation Board this week opposing the AFL-CIO request. (Reporting by Karen Jacobs, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)