FCC Commissioner

We have battled media consolidation for decades.

Certainly since the days of Michael Powell. Not big enough? What's wrong with owning the TV station, radio station and newspaper in a single market? Who needs diversity??

Here's an FCC Commissioner who just finished work on the $30 billion Comcast/NBC deal - complaining that it took too long, going to work for...wait for it...Comcast. Don't worry. She won't be lobbying the FCC. She'll only be lobbying Congress. Her new boss at Comcast was the former head of a trade association for cable television, a job being taken by...wait for it again...Michael Powell. You remember him, don't you?

You can't make this shift up. The story....

What's up with Delta Airlines and the FAA shutdown??

A simple majority was never so complicated.

Delta, a looooong time non-union, anti-union carrier, has been front and center in the political fight to prevent a change in the way airline union votes are conducted. Delta wants to reverse a recent National Mediation Board ruling that, in airline union elections, the outcome would be decided by a simple majority of votes cast. A simple majority of votes cast seems logical, right?

No.

The rule that Delta wants reinstated says that any vote not cast should be counted as a "no" vote. That made it easy for the company to tell employees to just throw that union stuff away. Don't even read it. Consequently, when they didn't vote, they were counted as voting the company way. They were automatically voting "no".

Now the FAA is partially shutdown because the Senate said 'no thanks'. Republicans folded up shop and left town, leaving the FAA high and dry. Jobs are on hold. Construction and upgrades on hold, some until next year. So much for caring about jobs. And taxes are still being collected by the airlines, but the FAA can't receive them.

You can't make this shift up.

Here is a short statement from West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller on the subject

:

I wish I understood why the policy objections of one company — Delta Air Lines — mattered more than the livelihoods of thousands of people. Last year, the CEO of Delta made $9 million. Delta paid its top executives almost $20 million. Yet, it is fighting to make sure its employees cannot organize for fear that they may secure a few extra dollars in their paychecks. At the same time it is pushing for special interest provisions in the FAA bill, Delta announced it was abandoning air service to 26 small rural communities—leaving many of them without air service.

Adding one last bit of insult to injury, Delta announced yesterday that it will be cutting 2,000 jobs, while increasing fares and cutting back on services. Last month, Delta found itself in hot water for charging troops who were returning from Afghanistan $2,800 in baggage fees.

So, the next time you make travel plans, think about the airline you're doing business with. Think about whether you want to support their "business model". Make Delta your airline of last resort. We don't insist the employees of Delta join a union. We do insist that their decision to join, or not join, be governed by rules that are not written by the company itself.