(WASHINGTON)—Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today applauded the National Mediation Board for changing a federal rule that now makes it fairer for airline and railway employees to form unions.

The rule change was published online today in the Federal Register and affects more than 570,000 airline and railway employees. The rule change allows workers to form a union if a majority of the employees who vote support it.

“Workers who want to form unions are looking for job security and peace of mind. By changing the rule, the NMB has leveled the playing field, giving workers a fairer chance to form unions,” Hoffa said. “I’m pleased with this decision by the NMB and I’m proud of the work the Teamsters Union has done to ensure this change happened.”

Hoffa added that the rule change brings union elections up to modern standards of democratic election law. It allows workers the right to sit out an election if they choose. Under the old rule, workers sitting out an election were viewed as casting ‘no’ votes.

The NMB is a federal agency created in 1934 under the Railway Labor Act to oversee labor relations in the railroad and airline industries.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was founded in 1903 and represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

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