Delta Labor Votes Buck Nonunion Culture Dating to Crop-Dusters
In the first major vote since rules for organizing airline workers were relaxed by the National Mediation Board, 20,000 Delta flight attendants will begin voting on unionization today. Fleet-service workers will begin voting on October 14th. If the union wins the ballots, the amount of unionized Delta workers would rise to over half of the company, from around 12%. Most are assuming that the flight attendants and fleet-service workers will organize, which will reduce flexibility for the company and possibly raise costs. Employees say that Delta has always had a tradition against collective bargaining, and the vote was between the message of the company and the security of the contract offered by the union. The CEO said that he uses faith-based principles to treat people respectfully at Delta.
See "Delta Labor Votes Buck Nonunion Culture Dating to Crop-Dusters", Mary Jane Credeur, Bloomberg News, September 28, 2010