Baggage and cargo handlers at Delta Air Lines will vote in October and November on whether to keep the union that represented those workers at Northwest Airlines before the 2008 merger.
Delta's fleet workers have been nonunion. If union supporters don't win a majority of votes, the International Association of Machinists contract covering former Northwest workers will end and they no longer will be represented.
The National Mediation Board, which oversees transportation unions, set the election for. Oct. 14 to Nov. 18 by phone or Internet. Under new rules, union victory requires a majority of the those voting. The old rules required unions to win yes votes from a majority of all 14,000 workers in these jobs.
Last week, the board announced that the IAM lost another Delta election conducted under the old rules. Only 41 of the 91 flight simulator technicians at Delta facilities in Eagan and Atlanta backed the union, less than in an unsuccessful February election that was re-run because of company interference.
And more than 20,000 Delta flight attendants will vote over five weeks beginning next Wednesday on whether the Association of Flight Attendants will represent them.
DAVID SHAFFER
