Union loses vote to represent Delta Air Lines fleet service workers

Union loses vote to represent Delta Air Lines fleet service workers

Joshua Freed
Associated Press
November 18, 2010

MINNEAPOLIS - Unions lost their second big vote at Delta Air Lines on Thursday, with fleet service workers rejecting the union that had represented the same group at Northwest Airlines.

The voting by 13,104 baggage handlers and other fleet service workers ended with 52.5 percent of them voting for no union, according the National Mediation Board, the federal agency that runs airline union elections.

Delta is mostly non-union except its pilots. But labor got a foot in the door when Delta absorbed heavily unionized Northwest in 2008.

The election that ended Thursday was to see whether the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers would represent the combined workers, or none of them. Roughly 5,000 of those Delta workers had come from Northwest.

The IAM is also aiming to represent some 16,500 customer service workers such as gate agents and ticket-sellers. Voting for that group, which includes roughly 5,000 from Northwest, ends Dec. 7.

Voting for about 700 stock and stores clerks ends Monday.

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA narrowly lost its bid to represent about 20,000 Delta workers earlier this month. The AFA has claimed that Delta interfered in the voting, which Delta denied. Union spokeswoman Corey Caldwell said the union expects to file its allegations with the mediation board next week.

Delta said it would make pay and work rules the same for workers who came from Delta and their colleagues who came from Northwest once it knows whether the IAM will challenge the election.

IAM spokesman Joseph Tiberi said the union is "investigating allegations from Delta workers of illegal election interference," but didn't say whether it would file to challenge the outcome.

Delta had mounted an extensive campaign that unions said was aimed at encouraging votes against representation.

The airline said that Thursday's result means that votes covering some 40,000 workers have rejected union representation.

Also on Thursday, the pilot union at Delta elected Detroit-based 767 captain Tim O'Malley as chairman of its Master Executive Council. O'Malley has worked for Delta since 1990, and was a F-4 pilot in the Air Force. O'Malley and other new officers for the Delta branch of the Air Line Pilots Association begin their new roles Jan. 1.

O'Malley replaces outgoing chairman Lee Moak, who was elected ALPA president last month.

Shares of Atlanta-based Delta rose 46 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $13.67 in afternoon trading, with most of the gain coming before the vote result was announced.

No sorrow from me. Good for them. Bad for the union. It's why Northwest was partly in shambles to begin with.

Delta workers reject another union

Minneapolis Star Tribune
November 22, 2010

Another group of workers at Delta Air Lines has voted against unionizing.

In an election for 673 stock and stores employees, 439 or 72 percent voted not to be represented, and 168 voted for a union, according to results released Monday.

The loss for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) comes follows two union defeats this month by 29,000 fleet workers and flight attendants.

Delta has faced a series of union elections because its 2008 merger with Northwest Airlines forced it to combine Northwest's heavily unionized workforce with the mostly nonunion Delta workforce. Only Delta's pilots and flight dispatchers have unions.

In a statement, the company applauded the workers' overwhelming vote against the union.

"Their voices could not have been more clear," the company said. "Delta people have patiently waited two years to have their pay, benefits, work rules, and seniority aligned. It's time to move forward."

About 90 percent of stores workers participated in the telephone and Internet voting.

IAM accused the company of improperly campaigning against the union. The IAM and the Airline Flight Attendants union have said they want the National Mediation Board to investigate alleged interference. The board earlier found that Delta interfered in a flight simulator technicians election last February and had ordered a new election, which the union lost in September.

This is a victory for those employees and a big middle finger to the unions. Good for those employees!!!

dblboggie wrote:This is a victory for those employees and a big middle finger to the unions. Good for those employees!!!

You know what the background of all this is? I'll tell you..

Delta bought out Northwest Airlines here in Minnesota. Guess what? NWA was all union. Delta is not. Delta has more people. Delta employees don't want the union bullshit.

TexasBlue wrote:

dblboggie wrote:This is a victory for those employees and a big middle finger to the unions. Good for those employees!!!

You know what the background of all this is? I'll tell you..

Delta bought out Northwest Airlines here in Minnesota. Guess what? NWA was all union. Delta is not. Delta has more people. Delta employees don't want the union bullshit.

And the very reason Delta is bigger and was able to buy out NWA is because of those very unions. And you can be damn sure the Delta personnel know that...

Even people here in Minnesota (where NWA was headquartered) think that the unions ruined the airline.

TexasBlue wrote:Even people here in Minnesota (where NWA was headquartered) think that the unions ruined the airline.

And that's saying something given how liberal Minnesota is....

Minnesota is only liberal in the Twin Cities area and also in the northeast part of the state. And up there, they kicked out Oberstar after 35 years.

But in the Twin Cities, they're absolutely kooky there. Reading some of the comments in the newspaper comments section, you'd swear you were in California.

TexasBlue wrote:Minnesota is only liberal in the Twin Cities area and also in the northeast part of the state. And up there, they kicked out Oberstar after 35 years.

But in the Twin Cities, they're absolutely kooky there. Reading some of the comments in the newspaper comments section, you'd swear you were in California.

It's sort of the same here. Ohio is only liberal in the larger cities (Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, etc), but the rest of the state is largely rural and conservative.