Union Slams Management For Talking Directly To Employees

If the Delta/Northwest Airlines merger goes through as planned, it will require combining Delta's largely non-union workforce with Northwest's heavily-unionized workforce -- and that's a problem if you're one of the unions.

Will a post-merger certification election bring in thousands of new union members from the Delta side? Or, will the majority vote "nay," shutting the union out at the new company?

Pilots at both airlines are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, so there's no doubt that union is safe. But unions representing maintenance workers and flight attendants at Delta showed Wednesday just how jumpy they are about the threat to their roles representing employees.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports an employee survey was fielded this week by the two airlines, asking employees for their thoughts on the merger.

"The reason for the survey is to get a broad cross-section of employees to give their perceptions about the merger," Northwest spokeswoman Tammy Lee said, adding company execs want to know what works and what doesn't, as well as "what they would like to see the culture become."

The unions at Northwest have pounced immediately, insisting that management has no business talking directly to employees. On its website, the leadership of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents 12,500 Northwest ground workers, called the survey management's, quote - "latest divide-and-conquer scheme," and urged members not to participate.

Kevin Griffin, president of the Northwest flight attendants union, told the paper Wednesday the airlines are circumventing the unions, and complained that union leaders were not consulted to phrase the questions. He also warns flight attendants should not be filling in their employee identification numbers on the surveys.

We don't know what's in those union contracts, and it's very possible an attempt to survey employees directly violates the agreements. But if you've ever been represented by a union, you also know that there are times when union leadership has its own agenda, which may or may not represent what members really think. One example is almost exclusive support for Democratic political candidates, including campaign donations made with members' dues.

So, if you work for Northwest... do you believe the company really wants your opinion? Do you want your individual concerns to be heard? Are you willing to risk undercutting your union's position right before a merger?

This may be a tougher question than it looks. We should have a rough idea about participation in a few days.

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