‘You’re not going to police us’: Delta Air Lines workers rally to demand union representation

Delta Air Lines workers, laborers and community allies gathered on Wednesday to demand union representation. On sidewalks located yards away from a Delta Airlines employee parking lot, they held signs demanding a stop to union busting —  an attempt by management to prevent employees from exercising their legal right to unionize — and yelled chants pressing for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Union representation.

Their shirts declared they were “standing on the shoulders of those who came before us.”

“This campaign has been going on since 2014. We’ve had some strong union brothers and sisters transition out to die, and then we’ve had others to retire, but they fought the fight they started. We want to make sure they understand that we didn’t forget their beginning,” said Charlie Hood, the office manager for the Atlanta Delta ramp campaign. “Now we’re here in 2024 fighting the same fight they were fighting 10 years ago.”

Delta Air Lines is considered the most profitable airline in the United States. However, while it leads in profits, it trails in union employees. Delta has the lowest percentage of workers represented by unions among major airliners, with the airline’s pilots and dispatchers as the only unionized employees. Union organizers lost a 2010 election at Delta after previous attempts failed in 2002 and 2008. This current push stems from a coordinated campaign announced in November 2022 to reorganize a union push that was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019; it includes Delta flight attendants, fleet service workers and technicians.

Hood said workers’ concerns include salary, staffing shortage, run-down equipment, health and safety issues, lack of sick policy leave, mistreatment and favoritism by leadership and inconsistency with policy rules.

“That’s an everyday condition with Delta workers,” Hood said. “They don’t treat their workers right on a daily basis. This is far bigger than the union, but we know that once we get a seat at the table, there are certain things we can change.”

Daniel McCurdy, a ramp agent, has been employed with Delta for 26 years, even before the airline merged with Northwest Airlines. He said he remembers when the airline gave raises to convince workers that they didn’t need a union. Now he said the tide has changed, and, in their several efforts to organize over the years, he’s never seen more people “pissed off” inside the workplace than they are now.

“We lead it in profits, and we should be leading this industry in pay benefits, work rules, vacation; unfortunately, we don’t lead in any of that, so it’s going to take unionizing to let Delta understand that we want to be brought along for the ride, and we’re going to stand up for ourselves.”

Delta workers and organizers at the rally said the airline has been unresponsive and has been trying to “shut down our message” through anti-union literature and videos in the breakrooms and anti-union speech toward new hires. However, Hood said they have letters from Warnock and other state representations supporting their efforts to unionize but acknowledged that the results of the presidential election in November could change the labor-friendly atmosphere.

Wednesday’s rally will lead into a John Lewis commemorative service tonight and a silent protest at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Thursday. Thursday night, Delta workers and community activists will discuss the fight for union representation on the broadcast show “Roland Martin Unfiltered” from 6 to 8 p.m.

“Since Delta prides itself on being the best airline in the world, their workers should have the best benefits worldwide,” said Amanda Goodman-Berry, a Delta Air Lines worker helping organize workers into IAM. “It’s telling Delta, ‘you’re not going to police my voice. You’re not going to police my vote. You’re not going to police our tone. You’re not going to police us.’ We’re going to do it, and we’re going to do it today. So this is what has changed — people are willing to stand up and tell Delta to back off.”

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