Could Add 30,000 Workers Combined To Ranks

Though its effects on employee numbers at both airlines remain unknown, unions at Northwest Airlines are looking towards the impending merger with Delta Air Lines as an opportunity to grow their memberships.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers recently opened an office across the street from Delta's headquarters near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, with an eye towards unionizing Delta's largely non-union workforce once the merger is completed.

IAM members have taken to handing out flyers to Delta employees as they arrive to work. They're not alone -- the Association of Flight Attendants is also working closely with employees at both airlines in an attempt to unionize Delta's 14,000 FAs; as ANN reported, two earlier attempts to do so -- in 2001, and again last May -- failed.

That was then, however, and this is now, says AFA spokeswoman Corey Caldwell. "If this merger goes through and there is to be another election, this will be one of the largest union elections in the country," she said, adding Northwest's 7,000 flight attendants "have a lot to lose if they lose their contract."

Delta is unique among major US carriers in having a largely non-unionized workforce... a remnant from the time when Delta was still a family-controlled, largely-regional airline. Today, only one major employee group is represented by a union, Delta's 7,000 pilots. About 200 dispatchers are also unionized.

Those numbers stand in stark contrast to Northwest's heavily-unionized workforce. Employees at that airline -- which is slated to be absorbed into Delta in the coming years, should the merger go through -- are represented by Air Line Pilots Association, the Association of Flight Attendants, the International Association of Machinists, and the Transport Workers Union... among many others.

For those unions, the Delta/NWA merger represents an opportunity to grow their ranks by some 30,000 workers combined. "Delta has always been the most anti-union airline," says Gary Mobley, IAM's Atlanta representative. "We're trying to write a new chapter where we're able to organize it."

"Our goal is to organize the Delta workers regardless of whether there's a merger or not," adds IAM spokesman Joe Tiberi.

FMI: www.goiam.org, www.afanet.org, www.delta.com, www.nwa.com