Federal board: Delta interfered in union election

By Kelly Yamanouchi

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Delta Air Lines interfered in a union election among its flight simulator technicians, the National Mediation Board determined.

The election will be rerun,  the three-member Mediation Board decided. The NMB oversees labor relations at airlines.

The Machinists union lost the election, which was triggered by Delta's merger with Northwest, in February. Simulator technicians were unionized at Northwest but not at Delta. Of the 91 eligible voters, 40 voted for the Machinists union.

The union claimed Delta interfered by offering a pay raise to non-union employees and conducting one-on-one meetings to influence employees not to vote for the union. The Mediation Board said those moves constituted interference, but found insufficient evidence for other claims by the union.  One NMB member dissented on the pay raise issue.

Delta said: "We are disappointed with the NMB’s ruling. Many of the IAM’s allegations were found to be without merit and we agree with the strong dissent that the timing of the world-wide announcement of a general pay increase did not constitute interference in the simulator technician election."

The Mediation Board's decision comes as Delta flight attendants and other ground workers prepare for their own union elections. No date for the new election was set.