Delta Air Tells Flight Attendants That Unionizing Will Bring ‘Lots of Inner Turmoil’ in Controversial New Email
- Delta Air Lines has warned flight attendants in a controversial new email that unionization efforts could cause “lots of inner turmoil” leading to one crew member to say that they never thought the airline could "stoop so low."
Delta Air Lines has sent out a new ‘union-busting’ email to tens of thousands of flight attendants, warning them that a concerted unionization campaign will lead to “lots of inner turmoil.”
The warning came in a weekly email in which Delta said it wanted to address a rumor about union authorization cards, or A-cards, which must be signed by at least 50% of all Delta flight attendants to trigger an official ballot.
“I have to say, I never thought I’d see Delta stoop this low and suggest that voting for a union could lead to INNER TURMOIL.”
Delta flight attendant
Addressing whether signing an A-Card is just like registering to vote, Delta cautioned: “Signing an A-Card means you want a union election – it is nothing like registering to vote. Whether or not you sign an A-Card does not impact your eligibility to vote if there were an election.”
The email then continued: “It is important to understand what you could be signing up for by signing an A-Card – uncertainty, years of negotiations and lots of inner turmoil.”
Delta is the only major US carrier where a union does not represent flight attendants despite several attempts by both the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) to unionize the Atlanta-based carrier’s 28,000-strong flight attendant workforce.
Three previous attempts to unionize Delta’s flight attendants, in 2002, 2008, and 2018, all ended in failure, but in 2019, the Association of Flight Attendants announced it was going to attempt to organize crew members at Delta for a fourth time.
Today, the campaign, which started more than five years ago, is still going strong amidst rumors that the AFA could be on the verge of collecting enough A-Cards to trigger a unionization ballot.
That being said, it’s been more than five months since the organizing committee known as Delta AFA said it was just weeks away from collecting enough A-Cards to trigger a ballot.
“I’m almost at a loss for words at the email we received today,” one Delta flight attendant said about the email warning of inner turmoil.
“There’s pretty much always one portion of our weekly email that is dedicated to union busting – that is nothing new,” the flight attendant explained before adding: “I have to say, I never thought I’d see Delta stoop this low, and suggest that voting for a union could lead to INNER TURMOIL.”
Unionization is clearly a divisive topic at Delta, given that even after years of campaigning, the union is yet to collect enough A-Cards to even trigger a formal vote.
That being said, it’s hard not to believe that Delta is concerned about its numerous communications to dissuade loyal staff. The airline even has its own anti-union website dedicated to warning flight attendants and other non-unionized workgroups about the alleged dangers of joining a union.
As another flight attendant commented: “I’m still not sure what my stance is about AFA organizing at Delta, but I do wish the company would chill out a little on the union-busting.”
“If anything, it’s probably doing the opposite of what they’re intending, along with slightly passive-aggressive emails from management.”
Timeline: Unionization Efforts at Delta Air Lines
There’s nothing incorrect in the statement from the company. The union wants to spin organizing as a promise of “everything you have today, plus more”. It’s not. If the organizing effort is successful, those annual pay increases and profit sharing checks could absolutely be put on hold, because those issues become part of the contract negotiations. A first contract would take years, and Delta has shown that it matches or beats what the unionized carriers have negotiated. It’s unlikely that Delta FAs will get “everything you have today, plus more” by organizing. Fact is, the Delta FAs are well compensated. If things are that bad for the Delta FAs, then go ahead and organize, I get it. But in the long run, the only one to likely benefit will be the union, who will have 28000 new dues paying members.
If Delta didn’t provide industry leading benefits, I could see a possible discussion to unionize. But in this case, the flight attendants will lose benefits for sure.
There is so much pride I see at Delta at all levels. That will all go away. And for what reason?
They don’t
As noted above, WHY…WHY would a union improve anything but the AFA’s wallet. Everything is frozen and negotiations start with a clean sheet of paper. Benefits, salary, vacations, bids, the PROFIT SHARING that is truly a gift on Valentine’s Day. Negotiations can go on forever. Meanwhile, the non union Delta employees get promotions or salary increases, benefit increases or adjustments. One only has to look at the attitudes of current union flight attendants. “I don’t have to.” “It’s not my job.” “I only have to do what the contract says.” Say what you will but one hears much less bad reports of Delta flight attendants than American, United, Spirit (gawd forbid), Frontier, etc. Like all airlines, there will be a few bad eggs and the company will deal with that. One the whole, Delta passengers are happy because the Delta employees are happy. The company laughs all the way to the bank and every Valentine’s Day…NICE PROFIT SHARING (which amounted to a 5 week salary GIFT) Unions are like herpes. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!
As a former FA, I agree with management. Delta has treated heir FA’s much better than the industry standard. Many say “ wish I tried out for DL 1st”. The Union, imho is for under performing individuals. Since the carrier has gotten so huge, it’s lost its Southern Charm years ago.
No union
What is incorrect about that statement? Are you telling me union negotiations have historically gone smoothly? LOL. Look at United right now.
Why the fa’s would want to unionize when they’ve got a really good deal already is beyond me. I could understand if things were awful with management but they are not. Go ahead bring Delta down like the other US carriers. Also, don’t forget that you pay the union.
It is funny to hear the same FAs talk about not wanting a union and then listen to them complain about being jerked around by their supervisors and schedulers because their work rules are suggestions. They are all happy at profit sharing time, but don’t talk about their profit sharing existing as-is because of the unionized pilot group’s profit sharing plan. I’m not for their unionization, but I think AFA’s effort will succeed this time because the FA group has expanded significantly since 2018 and management has a very clear preference for hiring demographics who are overwhelmingly democrat. That disproportionate alignment with socialist causes will push this drive over the top.
It’s important to note in the vote after the NW/DL merger the loss was by only 380. If you divide that in half and add one only 191 made the difference out of 20,000.