kettle1

ARTICLE: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-1...tml?cmpid=yhoo

Typical LAX BS.

MegatopLover

Total crackpot law. An employer being forced to negotiate (what, exactly?) with a union that has no authority to represent the employees. Wow. When did it become the People's Republic of Los Angeles?

TheMadBrewer

It is LA's airport -- it seems to me that can set the rules they want their tenants to follow.

If Delta (or UPS or any other airline or business) doesn't want to follow the rules they can take their business elsewhere. If enough do, then maybe the rules will change. Seems to me we hear a lot of that in other contexts on this board.

Now you can argue whether or not the rules make sense, etc. etc. but that is a different beast.

us2

I think the airlines are likely to prevail on the merits in that Federal law under the Railway Labor Act preempts state and local law on the subject. No need to even get to whether the law is a good idea as a matter of public policy.

TrojanTraveler

It's been like this for some time, increasingly so.

robsaw

To keep my reply simple - NO, LA Airports Authority cannot simply set the rules arbitrarily as "they want". There is a host of legal matters from jurisidiction to common-law contract principles at play that make "setting rules" far from a my-way or the highway approach.

DiverDave

I guess Delta and their co-plaintiffs will have their day in court to argue otherwise.

David

A320Fan

Funny, when I worked at LAX I used refer to the airport authority as "The Peoples Republic of LAWA". My other name for them was "LAWA Land".

Indelaware

Or better yet, LAX will be stern and say, "We don't want airlines that don't treat people working here fairly. Go take your flights and land in China or Doha, but not L.A."

Just outrageous the greedy behavior of airlines. They treat workers like they treat customers - viz. as scum.

kettle1

Sorry, but no one forced these workers to take these jobs (contract baggage handler, wheelchair pusher, fueling aircraft, cleaning planes, security guard, etc). They were told the pay scale when they applied and accepted the positions.

LAX is owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports, an agency of the Los Angeles city government formerly known as the Department of Airports. This agency has been a complete JOKE for at least the last 30 years. This latest move is just one more example.

I was born and lived in the LA area for 35 years and the smartest move I ever made was moving my company and family out of the City of Angels, Southland and Lalaland 15+ years ago.

mvoight

Greedy airlines? Why should they be forced to negotiate with unions their employees are not members of?

LDVFlyer

A complete joke? Under the current leadership, over the last 8-10 years, LAWA has built a new international concourse (18 gates total, 8 gates for the A380), approved construction of a midfield concourse (MSC North-Phase 1, with more A380 gates), entered into deals with tenant airlines for the improvement of T1, T5, and T7-8, undertaken to renovate common use terminals 2 and 6, is building a connector between T4 and TBIT that will allow AA to use TBIT, constructed two taxiways to ease movements around the airport, built a new utility plant, has committed to building a CTA APM that will connect with light rail lines in the vicinity of the airport, and undertaken to improve the general aesthetics of the CTA.

The driving force behind all of this has been Gina Lindsey, the airport directior. LA is blessed at the moment with great leaders in key positions. In addition to Lindsey, there is Michael Govan at LACMA whose plan it is to replace the current museum building(s) with a monumental building by Peter Zumthor. There's the new leadership team at the Getty that's returned to doing what the Getty does best --- buying whatever it wants (e.g., $65 million for a Manet). There's the leadership team at Metro who are building the westside subway extension and finally making mass transit a reality in LA. There's the leadership at the County that backed Mr. Govan's plan for LACMA and built the grand park. There's the Mayor who is behind the most far-reaching plan to restore the LA River... Furthermore, the Board of the Natural History Museum deserves special mention here for acquiring the Space Shuttle and their expansion of the museum, including a spectacular facility planned for the Shuttle...

It is a great time to live in LA if you can afford the housing costs.

starflyer

President Obama seems to be following the my-way or the highway approach regardless of the law (or common sense), with the apparent intent of making this the new practice across America. I see no reason why the LA Airports Authority should not do what the President is encouraging all of America to do.

Indelaware

While individuals are not forced, per se, to accept specific jobs, don't think that they are not forced. Because wealth in this economy is owned individually, much of it concentrated in the hands of a small oligarchy, workers are forced to accept employment; indeed, most are compelled to accept the first position they can find without regard to salary.

That positions were accepted at a given pay-scale is no reason to assume that that pay-scale must remain; it is a fundamental principal of this economy that workers seek to maximize their earnings, just as owners seek to maximize their profits.

While one might ask why are the unions disadvantaged by having workers not in their membership, that doesn't mean that we, as a society, ought not encourage those who would advocate on behalf of workers - unions, in this case - to negotiate better deals. Indeed, the airlines have great power over the lower level worker, why should we permit them to exploit these hard working people when there are organizations who will help, in a small way, balance the scales towards fairness?

It is not fair to the worker to pay the least one can; likewise it is not fair to the airline to pay the worker every cent that a greed-motivated worker wants. Fairness is arrived at by negotiation; only when small workers are represented can both employer and employee reach a fair bargain - a compromise fair both to airline and worker.

celsius1939

The above is put forth by someone who does not understand the rules. If the workers want a union, they can vote for one. If not, it is not the business of the airport to force airlines to talk to unions.