The announcement of the proposed merger between American Airlines—now in bankruptcy proceedings—and US Airways has drawn mixed reactions from the AFL-CIO unions, which represent workers at both airlines.

In New Orleans this Super Bowl week, there are plenty of fans sporting 49ers' red and gold caps and jerseys and Ravens' purple and black gear. But there also are thousands of union members—including many from unions in the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO (GNO)—who proudly display their union label and are making the game possible and the fan experience in the Crescent City run smoothly.

This is a crosspost from the Air Line Pilots’ (ALPA) Pilot Partisan blog. 

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a much-needed boost to the Commodities Future Trading Commission’s (CFTC) budget yesterday. The CFTC is responsible for implementing and enforcing rules to ensure speculative trading in the oil futures market is tightly monitored.

Most airlines utilize hedging strategies to protect themselves from wild spikes and drops in the price of oil. They are legitimate end users of the product, and the CFTC permits the airline industry to continue such legitimate hedging practices. However, many large investors use the derivatives markets to speculate on oil prices, resulting in unsustainable increases in fuel costs. Such speculation negatively impacts our jobs and our industry, which is why ALPA has been strongly advocating for tougher rules and oversight to reduce excessive speculation.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council welcomed three new members today: Airline Pilots (ALPA) President Capt. Lee Moak, Lorretta Johnson, executive vice president of AFT and Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) President Joseph Nigro. The Council also honored three retiring members at its annual August meeting, held this year at the National Labor College (NLC) in Silver Spring, Md.