ATU Action Weekly Update - 2/12/07

• ATU, AFL-CIO Plan Week of Action on EFCA
• Court Orders FMCSA to Reconsider ADA Compliance
• House Committee Moves Forward on Minimum Wage

ATU, AFL-CIO Plan Week of Action on EFCA

Starting Feb. 19, the ATU will be joining the AFL-CIO in an effort to crank up the volume for a week of action on the Employee Free Choice Act. Across the country, union members will be talking to Members of Congress in their district offices about why they must support this legislation to restore workers’ freedom to bargain for a better life.

Get ready. Click here to find out where events will be held in your area. Please plan to join in—there’s strength in numbers, and the more heat we put on the street, the more support we will gain for the Employee Free Choice Act.

If there is not an event planned for your area, raise the volume on your own. Go to www.employeefreechoiceact.org to access a downloadable flier to share with friends, family, co-workers, members of civic groups—spread the word about the Employee Free Choice Act to everyone you know.

For some people, these are days of big tax breaks and growing stock portfolios. But most of us are just scraping by—and America’s middle class is shrinking away. Profit-hungry corporations and the Bush administration have been eroding our chances to get ahead economically for far too long. Every working man and woman needs the freedom to bargain with employers for better wages, benefits and working conditions—and that’s what the Employee Free Choice Act will give us.

We’ve elected a new Congress that has pledged to fight for working families. Let’s hold them to their word. Show Congress your support for the Employee Free Choice Act during the week of action beginning Feb. 19.

Court Orders FMCSA to Reconsider ADA Compliance

On December 19, 2006, the United States District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a decision in a lawsuit brought by Peter Pan and Bonanza Bus Lines against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).  The lawsuit challenged a decision by FMCSA to grant operating authority to curbside bus operator Fung Wah Transportation, despite the fact that Fung Wah is unwilling to comply with the Department of Transportation's (DOT) regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The ATU, along with the American Bus Association (ABA), filed a brief in support of Peter Pan's argument that FMCSA has authority to deny operating authority to any carrier that does not comply with the ADA requirements of the DOT.

While the court did not reach a decision as to whether or not FMCSA does in fact have authority to enforce the ADA requirements, the court did find that the statutory text governing the issue is unclear.  As a result, the court vacated FMCSA's grant of operating authority to Fung Wah and ordered FMCSA to reconsider its interpretation of its statutory authority over ADA regulations.

A decision by FMCSA regarding its interpretation of the statute is expected in the near future.  The ATU is working with the ABA and other established intercity bus operators to encourage FMCSA to enforce the ADA regulations when granting operating authority to a carrier.  Keep posted to the ATU Action Weekly Updates for future updates on this issue and the ATU's efforts to fight illegal curbside operators.

House Committee Moves Forward on Minimum Wage

The House Ways and Means Committee this week approved a free-standing $1.3 billion package of business tax breaks to help move stalled minimum wage legislation out of Congress. The House approved the measure because of the likelihood that the same Senate gang of Republicans who killed a clean House-passed minimum wage bill last month would roadblock any minimum wage increase that emerged from a House-Senate conference without some sort of tax giveaway to business.

After it passes the full House later this week, the measure is expected to be offered as an alternative to the $8.3 billion in business tax breaks the Senate tacked on to its minimum wage bill. That move is expected to break the stalemate that has held the minimum wage legislation hostage since the Senate passed its tax-break laden bill Feb. 1.

Once the bills go to conference, observers expect the final version’s tax package will fall closer in line with the House’s $1.3 billion tax break level than the $8.3 billion in the Senate bill.

Meanwhile, minimum wage workers still are making $5.15 an hour, while Big Business ponders how to use another $1 billion or $2 billion in tax breaks.