Of the “big three” airlines in the United States, Delta has by far the fewest unionized employees, as pilots are the only major unionized workgroup. For decades, there have been campaigns to unionize Delta’s flight attendants. While nothing has come of this yet, efforts are once again ramping up. To go along with that, management’s messaging to dissuade this campaign is also increasing, and it’s rubbing some employees the wrong way, as flagged by PYOK.
The campaign to unionize Delta’s flight attendants
With Delta’s 28,000 flight attendants not being unionized, there have of course been considerable efforts among the major airline unions to get them onboard. For that matter, many Delta flight attendants also support this (while many others don’t).
Delta management is generally smart with how it approaches labor relations, as Delta flight attendants have industry leading pay, as management clearly tries to stay one step ahead. It seems that the goal of unionizing wouldn’t even directly be about higher pay, but rather about more protections and better work conditions.
In the past 25 years, there have been several efforts to unionize Delta flight attendants. For example, there were major campaigns to unionize flight attendants in 2002, 2008, and 2018. While all those ended up being unsuccessful, the votes were close, at times. For example, during one of the attempts, 9,544 people voted against unionizing, while 9,216 people voted in favor of unionizing.
Since 2019, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) has been working on its latest drive to unionize Delta flight attendants. As you’d expect, the pandemic delayed all of that. However, the campaign has been picking up steam within the past year or so. In November 2024, the union claimed to be within weeks of having enough support to file for a vote. However, nothing has come of that, until now.
Delta warns flight attendants of risks of unionization
As you’d expect, Delta management runs pretty strong campaigns against unionization. As the latest example of that, Delta sends a weekly email to flight attendants, and the most recent one has some interesting comments about unionization.
This is specifically about A-Cards. At least 50% of flight attendants need to sign these cards in order to trigger an official ballot for unionization. A flight attendant shares the note on Reddit:
RUMOR: Signing an A-Card is just like registering to vote.
FACT: Signing an A-Card means you want a union election — it is nothing like registering to vote. Whether or not you sign an A-Card does not impact your eligibility to vote if there were an election. It is important to understand what you could be signing up for by signing an A-Card — uncertainty, years of negotiations and a lot of inner turmoil.
The flight attendant comments the following:
I’m almost at a loss for words at the email we received today. There’s pretty much always one portion of our weekly email that is dedicated to union busting-that is nothing new. I have to say, I never thought I’d see Delta stoop this low and suggest that voting for a union could lead to INNER TURMOIL. When is enough, enough?! What will it take for everyone to wake up and see that this company does NOT CARE ABOUT US. They will do anything to keep a union away. Even if it means denigrating their employees, or vaguely threatening us (don’t risk it, don’t sign it). Enough. Is. Enough.
I’m curious to see if this unionization effort succeeds
I think it’s worth mentioning that Delta management and employees have a significantly better relationship than what you’ll find at American and United, and that’s largely reflected in the service.
Delta employees and management are on the same page about the mission of the company, and Delta offers flight attendants proactive pay raises, improved compensation like boarding pay, and the highest profit sharing in the industry.
With that in mind, I’m very curious to see how unionization efforts do this time around. One thing is for sure — the Delta workforce has changed materially since the last time a union vote happened, given how many new airline employees there are since the start of the pandemic.
Obviously belonging to a union requires paying dues. I have a hard time imagining that Delta flight attendants will get higher pay as a result of unionizing. I mean, United flight attendants are unionized, and still don’t have a new contract, even after years of negotiating.
But I know that for some flight attendants, unionization isn’t just about better pay, but also about negotiating better rules and protections, as there are some details in the current contract that many Delta flight attendants don’t like, and they have no way real way of negotiating that.
Bottom line
Efforts to unionize Delta flight attendants are once again ramping up. Clearly that’s also how the company views it, given the warnings that Delta flight attendants are getting about the risks of unionization, including “uncertainty, years of negotiations and a lot of inner turmoil.”
It’s anyone’s guess how these efforts play out this time around, given how the workforce has changed so much since the start of the pandemic. In the past, unionization votes have been close, so I don’t really know what to expect.
How do you see the current Delta flight attendant unionization effort playing out?
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