Delta flight attendants keep climbing to join unionized ranks
Delta flight attendants are working on getting enough union authorization cards to vote on whether to join the Association of Flight Attendants; they will face a battle as the airline has traditionally employed union busting tactics in the past. It is the only one of the major airlines whose flight attendants are not unionized. Overall, the percentage of unionized workers, at 20%, is quite low at Delta compared to other airlines. 86% of the workforce at American Airlines, 85% at United, 82% at Southwest, 86% at Alaska and 48% at JetBlue are unionized. The last union campaign at Delta occurred in 2010, where the airline spent $38 million to oppose the effort, and consequently, the FA's narrowly voted against it after their merger with Northwest, where the employees were unionized. The president of the union feels the flight attendants this time around are more comfortable in supporting the idea of unionization, given the popularity surge in recent years for unions. Delta is asking that any workers who do not submit votes to be counted as "no" votes, and has set up an anti-union website encouraging workers not to unionize, along with introducing boarding pay for flight attendants earlier this year. Typically FA's are not paid until the aircraft's doors are closed.
See "Delta flight attendants keep climbing to join unionized ranks", Michael Sainato, The Guardian, August 4, 2022