Union organizing campaigns by Delta Air Lines flight attendants, mechanics, and ground workers gained ground last week when Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock asked the Atlanta-based airline’s CEO, Ed Bastian, to remain neutral towards unionization.
“It is my understanding that a number of non-union workers at Delta are taking steps to organize and join a union. These moments represent democracy in the workplace. When these organizing efforts and elections occur, there are often unfortunate reports of threats or other undue pressure being placed on workers who will be voting,” Warnock said in the May 24 letter.
About 55,000 Delta workers are non-union. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) is trying to unionize Delta’s 28,000 flight attendants, while the Teamsters and the International Association of Machinists (IAM) are conducting union campaigns for the mechanics and ground workers, respectively.
Delta’s 16,700 pilots and 500 dispatchers are the airline’s only unionized employees, making it an outlier among large US carriers. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) last year negotiated a new contract for the Delta pilots with a 34% cumulative pay increase through 2026, worth over $7 billion. The Delta pilots, who joined ALPA in 1934, have endorsed the joint AFA-CWA, IAM, Teamsters campaign to unionize other Delta workers.
“I encourage Delta to remain a good faith partner as these discussions continue and to respect the decision of its workers, regardless of the outcome, just as I ask of those leading organizing efforts,” Warnock added. “It is important that both the letter and the spirit of all applicable laws intended to protect workers are followed, and that the workers can make their own choices free of undue coercion.”
Warnock’s letter followed a May 15 letter from 25 other U.S. Senators that asked Bastian to “pledg[e] not to interfere in any union organizing activities by adopting a neutrality agreement.”
The senators’ letter, led by its labor caucus, took a stronger stance than Warnock’s: “Unfortunately, our constituents have informed us about Delta’s history of deploying unionbusting tactics, including threatening employees with termination of their benefits, distributing anti-union literature, and hosting an anti-union website,” it said. “These retaliatory actions are hostile to workers’ rights, and we urge you to commit to implementing a neutrality agreement.”
A bipartisan group of 150 U.S. Representatives similarly called on Delta to adopt a neutral posture toward unions in a Feb. 12 letter.
Charlie Hines, an IAM organizer who’s been working to unionize Delta ground workers since 2016, said that Delta has continued to resist workers’ efforts to organize. “They are deploying millions of dollars into these campaigns to tell the workers: You don’t want that,” he said. “They have a very good way of making it seem like we’re family — until you’re not.”
Hines said the lack of a union makes it impossible for Delta workers to seek redress for workplace issues that come up. “My biggest thing for the Delta workers is they don’t have a right to their due process, along with their ability to negotiate their wages,” he said.
Delta has not responded to the specific Congressional demands for a neutrality agreement. “We welcome the dialogue with these members of Congress,” the airline said in a statement to Atlanta Civic Circle.
The statement continued: “Delta firmly believes every employee has the right to choose or union representation without interference, and we have policies in place that allow employees to learn more about this important decision. Delta also has the right and responsibility to ensure our people can make their choice with an informed perspective. All of this is done in full compliance with applicable labor law. Exercising their right to choose, Delta employees have repeatedly declined representation over the past 20 years in favor of maintaining our direct relationship.”
Labor organizers expect Georgia’s other senator, Jon Ossoff, to similarly put pressure on Delta. Ossoff’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Ossoff has a record of supporting unionization efforts elsewhere in Georgia — such as Blue Bird schoolbus workers in Fort Valley, who voted to join the United Steelworkers union earlier this month, — and has a 100% rating from the AFL-CIO.
In response to the House letter, Delta’s CEO highlighted the company’s $1.4 billion profit-sharing payout to employees in a Feb. 14 statement. “Every eligible Delta employee will receive a check that, this year, totals more than 10% of their annual salary,” Bastien said.
Last year, Delta posted $4.61 billion in profit – over three times higher than its $1.3 billion net income for 2022.
thanks for getting this coverage out. Many Atlantans know the more of us who are represented by unions negotiating contracts in our collective interest the better for all of us. Glad to see IAM, the Teamsters, and especially CWA’s Flight Attendants organizing Delta. I hope they finally win.
Don’t use CWA they sold me down the river after paying to that union for 35 years at Cincinnati Bell/Alta Fiber I was fired and was of no help at all.dagall522@gmail.com