Machinists union urges Delta ground workers to vote ‘IAM yes’

The Twin Cities rally capped a six-city, three-day tour that brought the IAM’s top two elected officers, President Tom Buffenbarger and Vice President Robert Roach Jr., to airports with high populations of Delta workers.

At Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, many of Delta’s ground employees used to work for Northwest Airlines, a unionized carrier. When the airlines merged two years ago, former Northwest employees kept their IAM representation – but that could change, depending on the results of voting this fall.

Pene Zarnoti, a reservations agent who worked for Northwest for 30 years, gave a “Late Show”-style top-10 list of reasons she will vote to keep her union representation. Among them: job protection, superior health insurance, defined retirement benefits, more vacation, better overtime compensation and a grievance procedure.

“I think we need a union to get a voice in what happens in the workplace,” Zarnoti said at the rally. “We need a union to try to keep (Delta) honest. I mean, if the pilots need a contract, with all their clout, so do we.”

People packed a rally to support union organizing at Delta Air Lines (above). Congressman Jim Oberstar (below) was among the speakers who fired up the crowd. Photos by Michael Moore

Countering anti-union tactics
Former Northwest workers are outnumbered 2-to-1 among employees eligible to vote in the union elections. That means results will hinge on the IAM’s ability to draw votes from longtime employees of Delta, a company that boasts openly about its non-union culture.

Buffenbarger said Delta has avoided collective bargaining with most of its employees because of unfair rules that governed previous organizing elections – rules that counted non-votes as votes against the union.

That rule changed earlier this year, when President Obama appointed a pro-labor majority to the National Mediation Board, which administers union elections in the airline industry. Now, a simple majority of employees voting in the election will determine its outcome.

Faced with the prospect of a fair election, Buffenbarger said, Delta has resorted to union bashing and employee intimidation – tactics straight out of the corporate union-avoidance playbook.

“Delta workers, they work side-by-side with us, and they work every bit as hard as we do,” Buffenbarger said. “But they work in fear, and we’re not used to working in fear.”

Zarnoti said she senses “a lot of support” for the IAM among her co-workers who did not work for Northwest. But she, too, senses their fear.

“I think the Delta people are quiet because they’re fearful if their manager finds out they are for the union, they will get in trouble,” Zarnoti said.

Ken Hooker, president of IAM Local 1833, which represents ground workers at MSP International Airport, said the best way for pro-union workers to counter Delta’s scare tactics is to reach out to their co-workers.

“All of us need to talk to everybody out on the floor,” Hooker said. “We have to have that face-to-face contact. Talk about the union, make sure your co-workers voted, and make sure they voted for the union.”

Election specifics
The 33,500 Delta workers eligible to vote in the NMB elections fall into four potential bargaining units.

About 14,000 Delta Air Lines fleet service workers began voting on IAM representation Oct. 14. A second group of 700 stock and stores employees were scheduled to start voting Oct. 25, and more than 16,000 passenger service employees will start voting Nov. 2.

The NMB has yet to schedule a vote for 3,500 office and clerical workers.

Because workers are spread out over many locations, the elections are being conducted by phone and Internet. Results of the elections will be announced roughly a month after voting begins.

Community support
Many of the people who packed the Fraternal Order of Eagles Hall, located south of the airport in Bloomington, were not Delta workers, but turned out Sunday to show their support for the IAM’s organizing drive.

“We are with you,” said Shar Knutson, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, the state’s largest labor federation. “We support you. We will work with you. We will do anything we can to make sure you win this vote.”

Knutson and U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar of Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District praised the IAM as a model for other unions to follow.

“When Delta and Northwest Airlines merged, you didn’t take it as a setback,” Knutson said. “You took it as an opportunity – an opportunity to grow your union and to grow the labor movement.”

“This is the first really big vote for industrial unions at Delta, and you’ve got to do it right,” Oberstar said. “You’re voting for fair pay, for fair treatment. This is a test vote. All of the labor movement and all of the industry are going to be watching this vote.

“You’ve got to show America what being union really means.”

Michael Moore edits The Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation. Learn more at www.stpaulunions.org

For more information
Visit the Delta workers’ campaign website