Senate majority leader Harry Reid and fellow Democrats today handed a huge victory to unions and the AFL-CIO, which is delighted. Senate Joint Resolution 30, a measure to reject a union-supported revision of election laws that makes it easy for small minorities of workers to organize entire outfits, was defeated. All 41 Senate Republicans and three Democrats who broke with party lines voted for the repeal.

Earlier this year the three-member National Mediation Board (NMB) voted 2-1 in favor of a new rule saying all companies governed by the Railway Labor Act (RLA) will be decided by a majority of votes cast. In June, a federal court upheld the rule, and today Senate Joint Resolution 30, which attempted to overturn the rule, was voted down.

Previously under RLA, which covers all rail and airline workers, each employee who did not cast a vote in a union representation election was counted as a “no” vote.

Many business groups along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Manufacturers Association strongly opposed the NMB/RLA rule change. The rule has been in place for 75 years and was upheld repeatedly, including twice by the U.S. Supreme Court. The National Mediation Board, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, previously rejected a change to the majority rule on four separate occasions.

But in an pre-vote statement on the Senate resolution that radically broke with historical precedent, the Obama administration said overturning the rule “would undermine a fundamental principle of fairness” in union elections and even warned of a possible veto if the resolution to disapprove the new rule was approved by Congress.

One outspoken Nevada business association today expressed their dismay at the senate vote.

“It’s incredibly troubling to see Senator Reid stand with labor bosses in favor of forced unionization,” said McKay Daniels, state director of the Alliance to Protect Nevada Jobs (APNJ). “Senator Reid has turned his back on worker rights and fairness with this vote.”

The Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) also issued a statement criticizing the senate vote, saying it “demonstrates Big Labor unions are pulling the strings as U.S. Senators such as Harry Reid and Michael Bennet simply nod their heads.”

The New York Times correctly surmised that many small airlines and railways companies like Allegiant Air in Las Vegas, which was ranked number one for low-cost carriers in Aviation Magazine and ranked number 25 on FORTUNE magazines’s Fastest Growing companies list, will be affected now that unions will find it much easier to organize.