IAM Delta Flight Attendants

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) today submitted comments to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) demanding implementation of the 10 hours rest rule for all Flight Attendants, which has dragged on beyond the congressionally mandated timeline for implementation.

The unions representing more than 50,000 Flight Attendants, the majority of unionized Flight Attendants in the United States, and who have negotiated the best Flight Attendant contracts in both the mainline and regional sectors, pushed back on the FAA's Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) as "unnecessary and an attempt to undermine the will of the American people."

"It's well past time for the FAA to stop carrying the airlines' water and get this rule implemented," said IAM General Vice President Sito Pantoja. "The FAA and the carriers should do their jobs and give Flight Attendants the rest that they deserve and the rest that the American people demanded they have. When passengers board aircraft, Flight Attendants do their jobs and ensure the safety and security of the flight. It's time for the FAA and the carriers to do their jobs."

The unions stated, "Congress gave the FAA a clear mandate to enact a new minimum rest standard for flight attendants in the 2018 Reauthorization Act. This rule should be in place already and there is no rational reason for continued delay in implementing it."

Please read the full text of the comments here.

IAM General Vice President Sito Pantoja issued the following statement today:

"The IAM stands 100 percent behind Delta Flight Attendants’ long struggle to gain collective bargaining rights and will continue to support your historic effort. The AFL-CIO had awarded the IAM with exclusivity and was in the process of investigating whether the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) was in non-compliance with that award. AFA was aware of this investigation and participated in the process.  Nevertheless, they moved forward before it was completed. This process is yet to be resolved by the AFL-CIO and is still pending.

As we said on Friday, we are deeply concerned and disappointed that the AFA would launch a campaign while this dispute is still unresolved. We hope that once this matter is resolved that all parties abide by the AFL-CIO’s determination and that all Delta Flight Attendants unify around the singular goal of forming a union and negotiating the industry-leading contract you very much deserve.

The IAM has steadfastly supported Delta Flight Attendants’ efforts to gain IAM representation for almost seven years now, and is committed as ever to bringing this campaign to a successful conclusion."

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers issued the following statement regarding the CWA-AFA’s announced organizing activities at Delta Air Lines:

The IAM is deeply concerned and disappointed by CWA-AFA’s announcement of intended organizing activities at Delta Air Lines before the AFL CIO has resolved the organizing dispute that has been pending for approximately two years. The IAM Delta campaign is strong and ongoing. As more information regarding this matter becomes available, the IAM will make such information available to all Delta Flight Attendants.

It’s Open Enrollment time, when major bank is spent on glossy flyers so we can pick from exactly ONE insurance administrator. Add up the annual premiums and deductibles, and each level of shiny metal amounts to the same thing: catastrophic coverage for healthy, wealthy people who need to stash money for tax purposes.

Works for unionized pilots who’ve reached pre-bankruptcy sick leave, compensation and defined benefit contribution rates, not so much for flight attendants and ramp workers. 

In one breath, Delta HR blames the IRS for higher deductibles, and in the next, doesn’t give it credit for mandated preventive services under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare), like free counseling on smoking, weight loss, depression, and alcohol abuse. Okaaay, thanks? But you had to, because, government.

We’re getting ripped off every year by a multi-BILLION dollar cash cow that continues to do the bare minimum in the health care department for non-union employees.

When a company is self-insured like Delta, it makes every decision about what gets covered and what doesn’t. UHC just has to send out the denial letters. A lot of them. 

With over 80,000 employees during Delta’s wealthiest times, it is morally repugnant that individual costs are significantly higher than at United, American and Southwest. In fact, according to data in a recent Commonwealth Fund report, many non-contract Delta employees would be considered “underinsured,” meaning that their deductibles equaled 5% or more of income.

One of the REQUIRED negotiating points in a union contract is health insurance. Part of a union’s power is its ability to minimize out-of-pocket rates, while increasing coverage benefits and decreasing prescription costs.

IAM members enjoy myriad insurance administrator choices, benefit levels, sick leave, and OJI protections in their contracts, as well as union-run EAP plans that leave the company out of an employee’s personal challenges. Open enrollment shouldn’t make us sick. Forming a union with the IAM is the only way we can decide for ourselves what benefits we want and to guarantee them in a collective bargaining agreement!

Request Your A-Card here.

#RespectInFlight

Lower schedule values! Insane hiring! Overtime pay (sort of)!

It’s all good. It’s also temporary and expected during organizing drives.

In addition to constantly moving the 50% authorization card threshold by padding the seniority list, leadership gathers information at “listening” tours that they believe will stave off unionizing. EIG “suggestions” are then rolled out to somehow seem related, which by design cost a fraction of what any union-negotiated contract would.

Google “anti-union playbook” and you’re basically reading the history of Delta Air Lines—minus the Bellinis. Every trick in the book has been tried here.

Managers are only now delivering items their anti-union consultants have been holding close to the (toxic?) vest for several years. The nearer we get to a union election, the more these nuggets are doled out. Once we’re dissuaded from gaining control over our working life, every single item disappears, slowly but surely.

We’ll take these fleeting, transparent attempts to stop us from organizing all the way to the bargaining table, building a foundation worthy of our professionalism, expertise and bold hospitality. The more new flight attendants, the more power we all have to protect each other!

The greatest investment we can make in our careers is to begin negotiating groundbreaking work rules and lasting improvements in every future IAM contract. Accept management’s rewards for what they are, then get back to reality and carry IAM cards. It’s time to make real gains.

Request Your A-Card here: http://www.iamdelta.net/acard/

#RespectInFlight