Attendants at Delta request vote to join labor union (after 80 years)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.startribune.com/business/15530857.html

A potential merger between Northwest and Delta may provide an incentive to choose union representation.

By LIZ FEDOR, Star Tribune

Last update: February 12, 2008 - 9:48 AM

Since Delta Air Lines began flying passengers nearly eight decades ago, the airline's flight attendants never have been part of organized labor.

But a majority of Delta's attendants have signed cards calling for a union representation election, and those cards will be delivered to the National Mediation Board this week on Valentine's Day. Voting could begin within the next two to three months.

The Delta attendants' organizing election has surfaced as Delta and Northwest Airlines are moving closer to a merger deal. Northwest's 8,500 flight attendants are represented by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) and Delta's 13,500 attendants would be voting on whether to join the AFA ranks as well.

"Delta has historically prided itself on being a southern and genteel company," Mark Stell, a Delta attendant and union organizer, said Monday. Delta attendants were often paid wages at the top of the airline industry, so Delta "gave flight attendants very little reasons to need a union," Stell said.

But he added that he and more than 1,100 Delta union activist volunteers want to "bring democracy to our workplace," especially when Delta and Northwest may be facing issues such as integrating their seniority lists under a merger.

Veteran Northwest flight attendants Danny Campbell and Mollie Reiley advised Delta attendants during their organizing drive. Campbell and Reiley served as union officials when the Teamsters represented Northwest attendants. In 2006, Campbell and Reiley were leaders of the campaign to replace an independent union at Northwest with the AFA, which bargains for attendants at 20 airlines.

FULL story at link.