Union votes to set course for Delta

Delta Air Lines flight attendants start voting Wednesday on whether to be unionized, in the first of a series of such votes this fall that could shift the culture at one of metro Atlanta’s biggest and best-known corporations.

It’s the third time in eight years Delta flight attendants have voted on unionization, with two earlier organizing drives defeated. But this time the 20,000 workers eligible to vote include 7,000 unionized attendants from Northwest Airlines. The two carriers’ 2008 merger set up the need for a vote to decide whether the unified workforce will be represented by the Association of Flight Attendants.

Mathew Palmer, a Delta flight attendant who opposes unionization, said he thinks the culture will “drastically change,” becoming more adversarial and contentious, if the AFA prevails.

Others say those fears are unfounded and unionization will bring benefits.

“In my opinion a successful election would really only enhance the Delta culture,” said Rene Foss, a flight attendant and spokeswoman for the AFA at Northwest. “It’s not going to take away from anything that already exists.”

“The culture is the people,” said David Carter, a Northwest attendant and AFA organizer. “I don’t think that’ll really change.”

Delta has long been the least-unionized big U.S. airline, with pilots the only major group represented. Historically that stemmed from its roots in the union-resistant South, along with a tradition of above average pay and benefits that held down union sentiment.

That started to change in the 1990s as Delta grew and brought in new leadership. It changed in a bigger way with the Northwest merger, which brought unionized flight attendants, baggage handlers, service agents and others into the fold.

Sorting out whether those groups will be unionized is the last major remaining issue in the merger.

The AFA election runs through Nov. 3. About 14,000 baggage handlers from both airlines will vote in elections starting Oct. 14, and about 16,500 customer service and reservations workers will vote in later elections.

Last week, Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson -- who was once Northwest’s CEO -- held a Q&A with flight attendants in an auditorium at Delta headquarters, and the meeting was also webcast across Delta’s sprawling system.

He said the airline’s culture “has been built over an 80-year history. We firmly believe that this culture and this relationship we’ve built is worth preserving.”

Invoking the name of founder C.E. Woolman, Anderson said Delta was built on “a faith-based set of principles around treating people respectably.”

Danny Valdez, a Delta attendant who backs the AFA, said he thinks the union would have a “relationship based on mutual respect,” similar to that between the Air Line Pilots Association union and Delta. He thinks unionization would yield a “proactive culture” with opportunities for all flight attendants to be engaged and contribute to working toward a contract.

Foss, the AFA spokeswoman, said Delta’s culture is “already changing, as we proceed with the merger.”

“Delta is comprised of sort of a melting pot of many cultures,” with employees from the original Delta and several past merger partners, including Pan Am, Western and now Northwest.

In the two previous votes, the AFA fell short with 29 percent support in 2002 and just under 40 percent in 2006.

This time, in addition to having built-in union support from former Northwest attendants, the AFA is also likely to benefit from a controversial change in election rules.

The National Mediation Board, which governs airline labor relations, in June decided that unions can win if they get more than 50 percent support from workers who actually vote. In the past, they had to get more than 50 percent of all eligible voters, regardless of whether they voted. Under the old rules, abstentions became “no” votes.

Diane Moumousis, a Delta attendant who voted for the AFA in the past, said she’ll vote against it this time.

“This election is different because it’s very real,” Moumousis said. “I think it’s the first time people realize it really could come in, that’s why it’s such high stakes for both sides.”

“I think we’re all terrified this time,” said Debi Shaw, an anti-union flight attendant at Delta who lives in Gainesville. “It’s because we see that there’s a possibility of losing a way of life that we and our customers have had for years and years.”

Moumousis said she voted for the union in the past because she saw problems with past management, but she thinks Anderson and his team have kept their promises. She said Delta’s culture has changed since she started in 1978, and said she “that Delta will never be back, but I feel that Richard [Anderson] has brought back a very positive attitude to Delta.”

If the union wins, its first order of business will be negotiating a unified contract for the combined workforce. Pay, benefits and work rules would be hashed out. Flight attendants would pay dues of $43 a month.

Ron Palmich, a Delta flier who lives in Young Harris, said he said he thinks the flight attendant job has “more personality involved than procedure,” and that a non-union environment offers employees “a little more freedom if they wish to take it.”

Les Hough, an economic development consultant with experience in industrial relations, said the union may have better chances in this election because of the change in voting rules, the airline’s improved financial standing and the blending of Northwest’s culture into Delta’s over the last two years.

Hough said he thinks customer service levels do not depend on whether workers are unionized or not.