It looks as though Delta Air Lines flight attendants and pre-merger Northwest flight attendants are nearing a new round of voting for union representation. Pre-merger Northwest Airlines flight attendants asked federal labor mediators to declare Delta a singly airline. Pending approval, this could initiate a widespread vote for both Delta and pre-merger Northwest flight attendants for union representation. Depending on this vote, this may settle the remaining integration issues for Delta Air Lines flight attendants and pre-merger Northwest Airlines flight attendants.
Today, Delta Air Lines has more than 20,000 flight attendants; 8,000 of them being pre-merger Northwest flight attendants represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. Remember, Delta was not big on unions, and thus their flight attendants are non-union.
Already, Delta has been sued by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) to stop the carrier from integrating seniority lists until Delta’s flight attendants can vote on union representation with Northwest flight attendants. So far, it’s been fairly ugly, but this could be a turning point.
The one thing that Delta wants to avoid is getting tied up in the integration process. No one wants to be a US Airways – America West merger (with their pilot integration problems). So far, Delta has successfully integrated the pilots and mechanics, which is very essential. However, flight attendants have an important role too, and the sooner they can get integrated, the sooner Delta can receive their single operating certificate from the FAA.
