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Workers Rally on Rainy Day in Georgia for Delta Flight Attendants |
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Nearly 250 people turned out in heavy rain last week to support flight attendants at Delta Air Lines who are struggling to form a union. Chanting, “Find Your Voice” and “No Fear,” they rallied in the parking lot of Delta’s headquarters in Atlanta to send a message to management that the corporation should support workers’ efforts to gain a voice at the workplace.
Richard Ray, president of the Georgia State AFL-CIO, told the crowd:
We love Delta. I fly Delta. But I want my flight attendant to be union.
After nearly seven years of intense outreach and worker-to-worker contacts, 14,000 flight attendants at Delta Air Lines are voting to be represented by the Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA). The mail-ballot voting, which closes May 28, is going on at the same time Delta is in merger talks with Northwest Airlines to create the nation’s largest air carrier.
Union members from throughout Georgia told the flight attendants they would support them through the vote and after because the workers deserve fair treatment and a voice. James Rivers, the international representative of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers, told the crowd (see video):
Your voice will be heard because you are standing for dignity, justice, for righteousness and for a voice.
Although a solid majority of Delta flight attendants have signed union authorization cards, management has launched a campaign to prevent the workers from choosing the union. Delta’s management continues to inundate flight attendants with propaganda encouraging them not to participate in the voting process.
The company has a history of trying to deny its workers the freedom to choose whether to join a union. In 2001, when Delta flight attendants began to form a union with AFA-CWA, the company launched a vicious anti-worker campaign that included renting out movie theaters to hold mandatory meetings to propagandize against the union. Supervisors intimidated attendants and even put notes in workers’ files for talking about the union—which is illegal. Delta sent letters and videos from senior management to the homes of flight attendants implicitly threatening job loss if they formed a union. Management even went so far as to tell the more than 3,000 flight attendants laid off after the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy they couldn’t vote—when, in fact, they could. Delta flight attendants could not overcome these tactics and lost their union election.
The flight attendants say no matter what tactics Delta uses this time, they are determined to win a voice at work. This time, the result will be different, they say. In February, when the Delta flight attendants filed their petitions for a vote, Mark Stell, a Delta flight attendant, spoke for those fighting for a union:
Delta flight attendants are hard working and are committed to our airline and to our profession. We want to make the decisions that affect our careers and our families, and not let others speak for us. Joining a union is about fairness, equal-footing and having a right to a legally binding contract.
For more information on the flight attendants’ effort to form a union at Delta, click here.
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