Fears About Post-Merger Fates Spur Call For Vote

One year ago, the threat of a looming hostile merger by rival US Airways hung like a cloud over employees at Delta Air Lines. That merger never came to pass... but renewed talk of another merger is making Delta's flight attendants nervous, and they're exploring options.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports fully 50 percent of flight attendants at Delta have expressed interest in calling for a vote to form a union... and they're reaching out to the 40 percent who are on the fence about it. Over 1,000 flight attendants at Delta carry union materials with them, according to organizers, and work phone trees to draw support.

The movement marks the first such effort in five years to unionize flight attendants at Delta, which has prided itself on a mostly non-unionized workforce. In 2002, a unionization vote failed -- the result of a more sympathetic view towards management in the post-9/11 era. But that was before the 2005 bankruptcy, and the resulting pay cuts... the failed US Airways takeover... and, most recently, renewed talk within the industry of an imminent Delta merger with an as-yet unnamed partner.

Organizers say they have enough support to call for a vote now... but they want as many supporters as they can get, to assure a mandate to join the Association of Flight Attendants, the world's largest such union.

Supporters of the move believe a union would give them a "voice at the table" if, or when, Delta merges with another airline... a voice they didn't have during contract negotiations while Delta was in bankruptcy.

"With the pressure to consolidate, it's a very different environment than it was in 2002," said Daniel Petree, an expert in airline labor relations as well as dean of the College of Business at Embry Riddle. "Survival now is less of an issue for airlines, but may be more of an issue for flight attendants, who fear losing their jobs in a merger."

Flight attendants pushing for the union vote say Delta workers make less hourly than compatriots at other legacy carriers -- a claim Delta management disputes.

"This kind of bubbles up every now and then," said Joanne Smith, senior vice president of in-flight services at Delta. "We're not surprised. Our workforce represents a pretty large amount of union dues for the AFA, over $6 million."

Smith says flight attendants at Delta actually earn more than others at Northwest, US Airways and United, and may reach seniority faster -- based on a "top scale and 75 hours of flying time a month."

A Northwest flight attendant mentoring Delta organizers, Danny Campbell, claims Delta "cherry-picked" and inflated hourly rates at those airlines, to strengthen its position. And then there's the matter of sick leave -- flight attendants at those three airlines can roll over their sick leave annually, while Delta FAs are locked into 27 hours per year, use it or lose it.

"Without a union," said Petree, "it's hard to argue that Delta management will ... or should, look after the welfare of the unorganized flight attendants."

Ten percent of flight attendants at Delta say they have no interest in unionizing. "The union is not going to guarantee me anything," said Mark Viens, 34. "Until they can show me a clear-cut plan, providing me with the guarantees they like to imply, then I don't find value in making the change and paying for that."

Union proponent Mark Stell replies organization represents the best chance for him, and others, to continue with their careers.

"For me to have something to look forward to in the next 15 years, we need a greater voice. Otherwise, it will devolve into something I can't make a living at," said Stell.

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