Flight attendants sue Delta over profit payouts

A group of flight attendants is suing Delta Air Lines, claiming it discriminated against them by paying them less and giving them less in profit sharing due to their past union membership.

The six plaintiffs all came to mostly non-union Delta in its 2008 merger with Northwest Airlines, where flight attendants were unionized. Last year, flight attendants and several groups of ground workers voted against union representation at Delta, resulting in the de-certification of unions representing those groups from Northwest.

Last month, Delta paid out $313 million in profit sharing, giving less to flight attendants and the ground employees from Northwest whose unions filed interference charges against the company after the elections.

Delta had told the Association of Flight Attendants from Northwest that if the union withdrew its allegations of interference, the company would align compensation for all flight attendants -- resulting in pay increases to the former Northwest employees.

In the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, Northwest's former home base, the plaintiffs argue that Delta denied certain pay to them "based solely on their prior union status" and made the discriminatory pay conditional on the conduct of a union that was no longer their bargaining representative.

The suit seeks back pay, as well as an order that Delta pay the same compensation to all flight attendants and stop conditioning payments on the union's withdrawal of interference charges.

A Delta spokeswoman said the airline had not received the suit and had no comment.