Airline unions won a significant victory Friday when U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman ruled that organizing votes among workers would be determined by a majority of votes cast, as opposed to a majority of all workers affected. For nearly seven decades in the airline industry, nonvotes had been counted as no votes, making it much more difficult for unions to win organizing votes. Since the Delta-Northwest merger in 2008, the two companies' workers have had separate contracts in advance of a unionization drive by non-union Delta workers. The new ruling paves the way for a unified workforce in the new company.
See "Judge Upholds Airline-Unionization Rule Change", Susan Carey, The Wall Street Journal, June 27, 2010