As Delta Air Lines works toward its proposed merger with Northwest Airlines, labor unions at the highly unionized Northwest are ramping up efforts to organize employees at the largely nonunion Delta.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents about 12,000 employees at Northwest, has opened an office in Atlanta across the street from Delta's headquarters for its ongoing campaign to organize Delta employees.

Photos by FRANK NIEMEIR / fniemeir@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Nancy Mobley (left) and Kim Gigliotti, members of unions at Northwest, hand out fliers to Delta employees at the company's parking lot off Camp Creek Parkway. One union has opened an office across from Delta's headquarters.

(ENLARGE)

A union wanting to represent a segment of Delta's employees must get signed authorization cards from 35 percent of the workers involved to force an election.

(ENLARGE)

FRANK NIEMEIR / fniemeir@ajc.com Unionized Northwest workers including Kevin Carden (right) hand out fliers at the Delta employees' parking lot near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

GROUPS REPRESENTED Northwest unionized employees About 4,500 pilots About 7,000 flight attendants About 900 mechanics and related workers, including union members and nonunion workers About 12,000 baggage handlers, customer service agents, reservations agents, stock clerks, quality service agents, skycaps, guards, clerical staff and WorldClub employees About 200 technicians About 160 dispatchers About 20 meteorologists Total employees, including union and nonunion: About 34,000 Delta unionized employees About 7,000 pilots About 200 dispatchers Total employees, including union and nonunion: About 50,000

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And at the Association of Flight Attendants, committees of flight attendants from Delta and Northwest are working on a campaign to try again to organize the attendants at Delta after the merger is complete.

The flight attendants union lost an election to unionize Delta's flight attendants in May. It plans to file for another election after Northwest and Delta combine. Flight attendants from both airlines would vote in a combined election on whether to be unionized. Northwest has about 7,000 flight attendants; Delta has about 14,000.

"If this merger goes through and there is to be another election, this will be one of the largest union elections in the country," said Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants. Northwest flight attendants "have a lot to lose if they lose their contract," she said.

Only one major group at Delta is represented by a union — its 7,000 pilots. About 200 dispatchers also are unionized. Northwest employees are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, the Association of Flight Attendants, the International Association of Machinists, the Transport Workers Union, the Aircraft Technical Support Association, the Northwest Airlines Meteorologist Association and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, among others.

The machinists union wants to organize ramp workers, customer service employees, reservations employees, maintenance workers and others at Delta — about 25,000 to 30,000 total, said Stephen Gordon, president of District 143 of the union.

The union is handing out fliers and authorization cards to employees outside Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, in a nearby Delta employee parking lot and outside Delta's reservations office. With authorization cards signed by at least 35 percent of the employees it wants to represent, a union can file for an election.

"Delta has always been the most anti-union airline," said Gary Mobley, who is running the Atlanta campaign. "We're trying to write a new chapter where we're able to organize it."

His group of seven people working out of the Atlanta office is focused on Delta's ramp workers and customer service employees at the airport. But the organizing effort is no sure thing. The Transport Workers Union, for example, has tried unsuccessfully to organize Delta ramp workers in the past. And Delta management will wage its own campaign to convince employees about the benefits of remaining nonunion.

"We will continue to talk to employees and share our point of view about how our direct relationship that we've had with our work groups and our people has always served us well ... and benefited Delta's people over the years," said Mike Campbell, Delta's executive vice president of human resources, labor and communications.

The machinists union also is passing out information to Delta employees in other places across the country.

"Our goal is to organize the Delta workers regardless of whether there's a merger or not," machinists union spokesman Joe Tiberi said. He said efforts to organize Delta workers began in 2006, two years before the merger was announced.

The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association also started a campaign in 2006 to organize Delta mechanics. AMFA went on a 15-month strike at Northwest that started in 2005 and lost the union many of its members at the carrier. Hundreds of other mechanics working at Northwest are replacement workers from the strike. Other mechanics are on furlough, but their time to be potentially called back to work expires Nov. 6.

With a much smaller maintenance operation, Northwest "put themselves in a position to easily merge with Delta because Delta does have the infrastructure, and all that Northwest has to do is have a layoff at Northwest and eliminate all those replacement workers," said Steve MacFarlane AMFA's national director. MacFarlane said AMFA's goal is still to file for an election.

Meanwhile, the National Mediation Board is seeking to revise its rules that govern union representation in an airline merger. It has proposed to add language saying the board would "exercise its discretion" and extend the representation of a union from employees of one carrier to both carriers only when there is "more than a substantial majority, as determined by the board."