Perhaps president Obama is the only president to have done a lot for labor unions, as a president. He has done this through bailouts, changing policies in the labor unions and legislation. However, he has not been able to persuade the congress to adhere to every worker’s dream; removal of voting via a clandestine ballot in the labor unions. Even so, he is still trying to make it conducive for the laborers to form unions in various sectors, and at the same time ensuring that their employer’s would not intervene. That is basically what Obama’s policy is all about (Barnes, 2010).
The Obama’s administration was swift to ensure the union’s rights of Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines were not jeopardized when the two airlines merged. In the elections that followed, the unions were expected to merge. With the help of Obama’s administration, an end to the non unionization of Delta’s laborers was expected to come to an end. Sadly though, this was not so. The elections took place in December 2010 and the most shocking results were witnessed. 70 % of the Delta’s employees discarded the Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and in the previous month, 52% of the flight crew chose not to unionize. Other employees like mechanics and meteorologist, unanimously rejected the unionization (Barnes, 2010).
It was a great loss to labor as a whole; it was even greater for the former workers of the Northwest airline since at the moment, they have no union. However, the labor union has filed for a re-election claiming that Delta had manipulated the election. The union has a history of loosing cases, so it is unlikely that a re-election will be done. The Delta airline used a cunning method to prevent unionization of their employees; they offered more benefits to non unionized employees. This tactic succeeded despite of NMB changing the election rules to favor the union (Fox, 2010).
Obama’s biasness towards the unions is expected to persuade the airport security association to join the union. Even so, the defeat of the union by Delta has made Obama’s record of labor reforms, a poor one. Experts have warned that Obama is anti-business; since supporting the unions has been known to deter economic growth. However, by favoring the unions, Obama is simply looking after the interest of the workers (Barnes, 2010).
Works Cited
Barnes, F. (2010). The Obama Team’s Other Lost Election. Web.
Fox. (2010). Obama Administration Eases Path for Airline, Rail Workers to Unionize. Web.