Atlanta, GA – Over 100 Delta employees, trade unionists and community supporters rallied at the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport May 25 to show support for the ongoing unionization effort at Delta Air Lines.

The organizing drive at Delta is a joint effort between three unions: the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), International Association of Machinists (IAM) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). The three unions are seeking to organize Delta flight attendants, baggage handlers and mechanics respectively.

“Atlanta, we’ve got your back because you’re organizing to bring power to the community, power to the people right here!” said Sara Nelson, international president of the AFA. “We’re here to stay, we’re going to make sure we are strong today, tomorrow and in the future,” Nelson continued.

This three-pronged approach to unionizing is a first in the history of attempts to organize Delta workers. Through union-busting tactics and intimidation, Delta has been able to prevent a majority of its employees from unionizing. The only workers at Delta who are currently organized are its pilots.

Many of those in attendance at the rally were workers who were already unionized. Elizabeth Laster, a part-time worker at UPS, said, “I wanted to show solidarity for the blue-collar workers fighting for their first contract. We are all in this together.” UPS is represented by the Teamsters, one of the unions working to organize Delta.

The AFA has attempted to organize flight attendants at Delta three times in the past.

“Unionizing is incredibly important for flight attendants. It gives us the strength of numbers to negotiate for better pay, benefits and working conditions,” said Iana Edwards, a former Delta flight attendant. “Joining a union provides job security, addresses safety concerns and creates a supportive community. It empowers flight attendants to have a voice, representation and the ability to make positive changes in work life balance,” Edwards continued. Edwards had worked as a Delta flight attendant for seven years and supported the previous organizing drives.

Over 45,000 employees could become unionized if the three unions are successful.

#AtlantaGA #AirlineIndustry #DeltaAirLines

Chicago, IL—Sarah Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, spoke on a panel with labor negotiator and author Joe Burns. They discussed how to fight the big corporate firms in the transportation sector in talk titled “Using the Railway Labor Act to Our Advantage.” They highlighted how different labor laws for the transportation sector benefit their ability to lead the flight attendant union in struggle with big corporate owners.

Joe Burns explained, “Railway workers formed one of the most militant unions in our history, shutting down the whole country with strikes in 1877, 1886, 1895 and 1922. Following each national strike, the U.S. Congress passed labor laws to regulate union activity and stop its effectiveness.”

It was from this that the Railroad Labor Act was passed in 1926 and amended in 1934, covering airline workers in 1936. This set of laws allows the government to interfere with transportation unions, favoring owners at every turn.

“From the 1930s, railways and airlines held strikes frequently, until 1970. In recent years it became worse and worse, with new legislation, the big companies can now drag out negotiations and force unions to delay strikes. By the 1990s the number of strikes took a nosedive,” said Burns.

Sarah Nelson spoke to the big room of labor activists, “We have been aggressively asserting our right to strike, but how did we push forward bargaining under the existing laws?”

She answered, “We started CHAOS or Create Havoc Around Our System.”

Nelson continued, “Our strategy is to launch intermittent strikes with the element of surprise, so bosses and the media do not know when or where an action will happen. In this scenario management cannot use replacement workers, and some strikes only last for 20 minutes at an airline.”

With one Alaska Airline strike, bookings dropped 20%. Sometimes the union would wait six to nine months to strike, but airfares still dropped because of the uncertainty of flight attendants striking a single flight. The bosses also trained everyone in the management offices on how to be flight attendants. They even put them on flights. It did not matter when ticket sales dropped.

Nelson explained further, “Then the flight attendants union voted to strike at United Airlines when they tried to take our pensions away. These strikes captured the imagination of the public and the media.”

“Now, we don’t worry about being released by the government to strike. We pummel the carriers and management the whole time. We have a right to strike and the right to secondary solidarity boycotts,” said Nelson, explaining how their strategy is different than most unions.

Burns followed up, “The Taft-Hartley Act made solidarity strikes illegal, but under the railways labor act, it states that solidarity strikes, and intermittent strikes are protected. By taking a strike vote, you pull members into the contract fight, and send a message that they are behind the bargaining team. With a strike vote, you also get the attention of the national corporations or top management.”

“My first book is called Reviving the Strike. It talks about the courts and Congress taking away our right to strike. Judges came in and filed sweeping injunctions. In Alabama, they outlawed all picketing during one strike. Judges use their injunction power to cripple unions,” said Burns.

Burns finished, “My second book is called Strike Back, about union organizing lessons of the past. Over 15 years, millions went out on illegal strikes. The slogan was, ‘There is no such thing as an illegal strike, just an unsuccessful strike.’”

#ChicagoIL #AirlineIndustry #LaborNotes

The IAM has overwhelming evidence that Delta Air Lines has interfered with the Flight Attendants and Ramp employees’ lawful right to seek a vote for union representation free from interference, influence or coercion exercised by the carrier.

“The IAM has provided the NMB with evidence showing Delta has run an unlawful, systematic anti-union campaign that includes intimidation, discipline and terminations of union activists,” said IAM General Vice President Sito Pantoja. “Last week, the public was able to see what many behind the walls of Delta have always known; that Delta will go to great lengths to suppress their employees’ collective voices.”

Some examples of Delta’s illegal activity include a coordinated misinformation campaign through postings and electronic messages in the workplace, surveilling and photographing employees participating in union activities and the singling out and termination of union activists.

#WashingtonDC #PeoplesStruggles #AirlineIndustry #AFLCIO #InternationalAssociationOfMachinistsAndAerospaceWorkersIAM #DeltaAirLines #NationalMediationBoardNMB