Northwest union seeks to halt Delta crew integration

By Kelly Yamanouchi

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

In the tug-of-war between Delta Air Lines and unions from merger partner Northwest Airlines, the flight attendants union has lobbed a new charge against Delta.

The Association of Flight Attendants this month filed a grievance saying Delta must stop combining the two carriers' flight crews because its contract says flights flown by Northwest pilots must be worked by Northwest flight attendants. Delta and Northwest pilots have already combined seniority lists and started working together on flights.

As Northwest flight attendants complete training on Delta planes and vice-versa, Delta wants to cross-staff flight attendant crews starting May 1.

The backdrop for the dispute is the delay in resolving labor representation issues nearly 18 months into the merger. Delta flight attendants are non-union, but so far no vote has been scheduled to let the combined workforce decide on representation.

Northwest flight attendants still work under a contract with a "scope" provision aimed at protecting jobs by preventing the company from outsourcing work. The union argues that Delta is the successor to the contract and must abide by it. It says Delta needs an agreement from the union to combine flight attendant operations as part of the broader flight crew integration.

"We understand that since Delta management has never had to adhere to a flight attendant contract before, they are used to imposing various work rules upon the flight attendants with no recourse, so of course they would be intimidated... and get defensive," Northwest AFA president Janette Rook said in an e-mail to the AJC. "Since Delta has gotten rid of most of the pre-merger NWA management that understood our contract, there have been a number of critical contractual violations."

Delta's senior vice president of in-flight service, Joanne Smith, wrote in a memo to flight attendants: "We strongly disagree with the AFA's position for several reasons, among them that all our operations are now Delta operations and all pilots are Delta pilots operating under a single Delta seniority list." She said the integration will improve work-life quality for Northwest attendants.

The issue could go to an arbitrator if the union and company can't settle the dispute.