The National Mediation Board announced today that United Airlines’ mechanics

and related employees have voted to change their union representation to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).

There were 8,631 eligible voters who cast 6,789 valid ballots, with 4,113 voting for IBT and 2,631 for the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association. Forty-five voted for others.

AMFA had represented the mechanics at the airline since 2003.

The defection of the United mechanics is just the latest in a list of losses for AMFA, which now only has about 6,000 members. This is down from more than 20,000 just a couple of years ago, and is seen by many observers, including this one, as another lingering after-effect of the union’s debacle, i.e., total misreading of the situation, involving the mechanics at Northwest Airlines.

While officials of the Teamsters talked during the election about pressuring United management to open up negotiations early, the current contract between the mechanics and the airline does become amendable until December of next year.