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May 29, 2008
Delta Flight Attendants Fall Short, but Campaign Continues
Delta Airlines flight attendants' fight for union representation fell short this week in the May 28 ballot count at the National Mediation Board, but management's campaign of voter suppression and intimidation has not extinguished the workers' continuing desire to get a union. The flight attendants are looking forward to another union election after the airline's probable merger with Northwest Airlines, according to AFA-CWA President Patricia Friend. "Delta flight attendants took the next big step toward gaining a voice and a union contract," said Friend adding: "A larger portion of the Delta workforce than ever before voted for union representation. Those supporters, combined with strong union support at Northwest, will clearly be enough for the flight attendants to win union representation after the merger with Northwest is finalized," she stated. The campaign was run by the Delta flight attendants, who built a grassroots, nationwide organizing committee of a 1,000 activists who passed out literature and talked one on one with their coworkers about their need for a union in troubled times. It was the largest organizing election in the private sector to be held in years. During the month-long election vote, which began in April, CWA members pitched in to support the flight attendants, with phone banks set up at local union halls in Atlanta, Dallas, and St. Lake City, in district offices in Los Angeles and New York City, as well as at CWA's Washington, D.C. headquarters. AFA-CWA and CWA staffers and members helped the Delta organizers make thousands of calls. The vote count showed that 5,306 of the 13,382 eligible flight attendants voted for AFA-CWA representation in the election, but Delta management launched a coordinated voter suppression campaign to encourage workers not to exercise their right to vote. From the moment AFA-CWA filed for an election in February, managers plastered crew rooms with posters urging flight attendants to throw out their official voting information before even bothering to read about their rights and voting online. "Give a Rip, Don't Click, Don't Vote," they said. Union activists have charged that supervisors also exerted pressure on them to discontinue their union support and prevented workers from exercising their right to post pro-union materials in crew lounges. AFA-CWA plans to file formal interference charges with the NMB because of the company's tactics and for other irregularities. Included on the eligibility list were long-term furloughed flight attendants, some who had accepted early retirements, and even one deceased worker. The law governing airline union elections makes organizing a union particularly difficult because it counts workers who choose not to vote in elections as votes against a union. To organize, 50 percent plus one of all eligible airline workers must vote in an election, so Delta pulled out all stops to get workers not to vote. Nearly 40 percent of the unit voted in the election. CWA President Larry Cohen praised the Delta flight attendants for showing "tremendous courage" in the face of management's anti-union campaign. "Amidst an atmosphere of intimidation, Delta flight attendants showed tremendous courage in standing up in the face of the many obstacles that management hurled in their path. They built a tremendous organizing network despite the airline's best efforts to quash dissent," stated Cohen. "Eventually, they will prevail in their struggle for a voice at the bargaining table." CWA, AT&T Mobility to Open Health Care TalksBargaining gets underway June 3 for the national health care plan covering more than 40,000 workers at AT&T Mobility. The settlement negotiated in 2004 expires June 30. "CWA is determined to reach a fair agreement on health care that reflects the company's profitability in what is the fastest-growing segment of the business," said CWA Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach. If a tentative agreement is not reached by June 30, both parties have agreed to take the dispute to mediation, then arbitration, if necessary, to resolve differences. If a tentative agreement is reached, it will be presented to the membership for ratification and take effect next year. Members of the CWA bargaining team are Betty Witte, chair, District 3; Paul Klaebel, District 3; Holly Sorey, District 4; Jim Murray, District 6 and Joe Sison, District 9, and John Alphonse, CWA staff representative, District 1. Canadian Unions Demand Government Action on Media ConsolidationLike their counterparts in the United States, CWA in Canada and other Canadian unions say the growth of Big Media is costing jobs and curtailing information, and they're demanding that the government put on the brakes. "It's a great day when labor puts culture first," said Arnold Amber, director of CWA-SCA Canada, whose members include thousands of media workers. "Canadian culture matters to all workers because it's our identity, who we are as a nation. Action is needed, and through the CLC (Canadian Labour Congress), we've got three million voices behind us." Amber and other labor leaders discussed a wide range of media and cultural issues at this week's CLC convention in Toronto and passed a resolution seeking government action. Topics included the provisions of a tax bill, Bill C-10, that would allow the country's Heritage Minister to deny tax credits to film and TV productions based on their content, which is fueling fears of censorship. Media consolidation was also a hot topic. "Big Media is erasing local news, not only costing thousands of jobs, but clotting the flow of information – the very lifeblood of democracy," said Peter Murdoch, vice president of Canada's Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union. The concerns parallel those of unions, media workers and activists of all political persuasions in the United States, who are concerned that too much media concentration is limiting access to a diverse marketplace of ideas. Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate – propelled by CWA and its media sectors, and other opponents – voted unanimously to overturn a 2007 FCC decision allowing a single owner to control both a newspaper and TV stations in the same community. Jonathan Adelstein, one of the two Democrats on the five-member FCC, said that in allowing cross-ownership the commission majority "veered dangerously off-course from the American mainstream, so our elected representatives are trying to steer us back. This unequivocal, bipartisan rebuke of the FCC is a wake-up call for us to serve the public rather than the media giants we oversee." To push the House to follow suit, the grassroots coalition Stop Big Media – supported by CWA and its media sectors – has a petition online that citizens can send to their U.S. representatives. To learn more and send a letter Congress, go to www.stopbigmedia.com. IN BRIEF:
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