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.