Attendants at Delta request vote to join labor union

Since Delta Air Lines began flying passengers nearly eight decades ago, the airline's flight attendants never have been part of organized labor.

But a majority of Delta's attendants have signed cards calling for a union representation election, and those cards will be delivered to the National Mediation Board this week on Valentine's Day. Voting could begin within the next two to three months.

The Delta attendants' organizing election has surfaced as Delta and Northwest Airlines are moving closer to a merger deal. Northwest's 8,500 flight attendants are represented by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) and Delta's 13,500 attendants would be voting on whether to join the AFA ranks as well.

"Delta has historically prided itself on being a southern and genteel company," Mark Stell, a Delta attendant and union organizer, said Monday. Delta attendants were often paid wages at the top of the airline industry, so Delta "gave flight attendants very little reasons to need a union," Stell said.

But he added that he and more than 1,100 Delta union activist volunteers want to "bring democracy to our workplace," especially when Delta and Northwest may be facing issues such as integrating their seniority lists under a merger.

Veteran Northwest flight attendants Danny Campbell and Mollie Reiley advised Delta attendants during their organizing drive. Campbell and Reiley served as union officials when the Teamsters represented Northwest attendants. In 2006, Campbell and Reiley were leaders of the campaign to replace an independent union at Northwest with the AFA, which bargains for attendants at 20 airlines.

"We are not surprised by the AFA's intent to file for an election, because Delta flight attendants represent more than $6 million in annual dues that would go straight into the AFA's bank account from our employees' paychecks," said Delta spokeswoman Gina Laughlin.

Northwest attendants took double-digit pay cuts in bankruptcy, but Campbell said there are "labor protective provisions" in the current contract that would require that Northwest attendants' jobs be preserved if a merger takes place.

Delta's Laughlin acknowledged that it is the attendants' right "to choose whether union representation is best for them." But, she added, "We want our flight attendants to get the facts."

Laughlin said, "If you look at what Delta people have today vs. what is happening at some of the AFA-represented carriers with pay and benefits, our people are faring much better."

At Delta, a top-scale attendant flying 75 hours per month would receive $3,080, while a Northwest attendant would be paid $2,953.

Stell said that Delta's unit cost for attendant labor was the lowest among the big six network carriers at the end of 2007.

Delta is a largely nonunion employer. The Air Line Pilots Association represents pilots at both Delta and Northwest, but ground workers and mechanics at Delta do not have union representation as they do at Northwest.