Brightline files lawsuit challenging onboard attendants’ unionizing effort in Florida

Onboard service attendants for the high-speed passenger railroad Brightline in Florida made history earlier this week for becoming the first group of Brightline employees in the state to vote to unionize. The onboard attendants first publicly announced their intent to unionize with the Transport Workers Union last fall, in a push to advocate for higher wages, improved job benefits and fixes for their safety concerns.

A lawsuit filed in federal court last month, however, could serve to disrupt or otherwise stall the union’s progress in bargaining a union contract with the for-profit rail system, which runs a route from Orlando to Miami — and is looking to expand.

“Brightline filed this lawsuit when it became clear they were going to lose the election. It is yet another ridiculous delay tactic that repeats the same arguments rejected by the National Mediation Board last year,” TWU International president John Samuelsen shared in a statement with Orlando Weekly. 

“This is another attempt to thwart the will of the workers, and it will fail. We look forward [to] negotiating a contract that improves the working conditions and economic security of Brightline workers and their families,” he said.

Federal court records show that Brightline filed a lawsuit against the National Mediation Board — a governmental body that oversees labor relations in the airline and rail industries — in December, challenging a decision by the agency to allow a union election for the railroad’s nearly 100 onboard service attendants to move forward.

The crux of the fight is that Brightline argues they do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Railway Labor Act, a federal labor law that grants railroad and airline employees collective bargaining rights, or the National Mediation Board, its enforcing body.

Aided by lawyers with union avoidance law firm Littler Mendelson, Brightline argued last fall that the union should have filed a petition for a union election through the National Labor Relations Board, a different agency that enforces the National Labor Relations Act — covering all other private sector industries — instead of the NMB.

Essentially, Brightline tried to argue they’re not actually a railroad — or at least, not a railroad that is under the jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board, which Brightline’s lawyers argue is a prerequisite to RLA jurisdiction.

The Transport Workers Union, representing about 155,000 workers nationwide, criticized this argument, describing it as a transparent “union-busting” tactic meant to delay workers’ unionization effort.

The union also pointed out that Brightline, a for-profit rail line, has received tens of millions of dollars in federal transit grants (taxpayers’ money) designated specifically for railroads.

“Brightline made a strategically stupid decision in hiring a union-busting law firm, Littler Mendelson, infamous for their anti-labor tactics at Starbucks,” TWU International president John Samuelsen told Orlando Weekly at the time. “Brightline — which glommed huge sums of government assistance — is now using taxpayer money to fight the democratic desire of its workers to form a union.”

The National Mediation Board ruled in favor of the union in November, thereby rejecting Brightline’s argument that they did not fall under their jurisdiction. A mail ballot election began last November, lasting through Tuesday, Jan. 14. A vote count revealed that onboard attendants voted 30 to 17 in favor of unionization, with 36 additional eligible voters sitting the election out.

Low voter turnout isn’t terribly uncommon in these kinds of elections — as with political elections these days — and it’s possible turnout may have been influenced by Brightline’s overt opposition to the workers’ organizing campaign and potential fear of retaliation.

Email communications obtained by Orlando Weekly show that Brightline president Patrick Goddard — based in Miami — emailed employees shortly after the union drive first launched, informing them that he would prefer to maintain a “direct” relationship with workers, without the involvement of a “third party” (i.e. the TWU).

This kind of messaging — taken straight from the union-busting playbook — didn’t go over well with the union. “If @GoBrightline President Patrick Goddard wasn’t a brainless wanker, he would have worked with @transportworker in DC to secure more funding, instead he chose the eejit’s way and brutally opposed the workers voice,” Samuelsen wrote in a social media post published to X (formerly known as Twitter) Tuesday, in response to the election results.

“Brightline ran an ugly anti-union, anti-worker campaign against their own workforce, but let’s put that behind us,” Samuelsen added in a statement. “We’re committed to working to ensure the railroad is successful while helping our newest members secure better wages, better working conditions, respect in the workplace, and other goals that they set.”

Brightline did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Orlando Weekly on the union election results or the lawsuit the railroad filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Miami Division in early December.

The lawsuit, filed just weeks after the NMB ordered a mail ballot election for the Brightline employees to move forward, doesn’t challenge the union election results, since it was filed before Brightline workers’ votes were fully collected and tallied.

Instead, the lawsuit challenges the NMB’s order allowing for the election to occur in the first place. “This lawsuit challenges the NMB’s contrary and unlawful determination that Brightline Florida is a “carrier” subject to the RLA and is therefore subject to the NMB’s jurisdiction,” the lawsuit reads. It further calls for the federal court to declare the NMB’s Nov. 12 order “unlawful” and to set it aside.

The NMB did not immediately return a request for comment from Orlando Weekly on the lawsuit, or what this means for the union and union election results.

U.S. House Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL), a consistent supporter of organized labor who recently secured $33.7 million in federal transit funds for a Brightline expansion project, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Brightline’s decision to challenge their employees’ organizing campaign.

But Orlando’s state Rep. Anna Eskamani — a frequent Brightline passenger who recently launched a campaign for Orlando mayor — called on Brightline to knock it off.

“Brightline should drop any and all efforts to union bust and respect the formation of a union by their workers,” Eskamani, D-Orlando, told Orlando Weekly in a statement. “As someone who rides Brightline often, I see how hard their employees work, and their desire to form a union should be celebrated, not delayed.”

“Brightline is a private company that has benefited from public tax breaks,” she added. “All the more reason to embrace the public process of forming a union and not spend customer dollars on expensive and frivolous litigation.”

According to the Orlando Business Journal, Brightline reported a $493 million loss in 2024, despite reporting $137.75 million in revenue, a 211 percent increase from the first nine months of 2023.

Littler Mendelson lawyers — Brightline retained at least two last fall, according to public documents reviewed by Orlando Weekly — typically charge hundreds of dollars per hour for their labor relations services. The firm has also been utilized by companies like Starbucks, Amazon and McDonald’s — employers that have similarly fought unionization efforts among their own workers.

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This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2025.