Pro-union Delta flight attendants based at MSP International Airport joined a rally last month in support of fired Delta baggage handler Kip Hedges: (L to R) Julianna Helminski, Laurie Gandrud, Dotty Malinsky and Tammy Rustad.
Delta Air Lines flight attendants moved one step closer to forming a union today, delivering more than 12,000 signed union authorization cards to the National Mediation Board in Washington D.C.
With support from about 60 percent of the carrier’s 20,000 flight attendants – well over the legal threshold of 50 percent – the filing is likely to trigger a representation election within four to six weeks, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Delta flight attendants have been organizing with the Machinists union for more than two years. If successful in forming a union, it would mark the largest ever transportation sector organizing win in U.S. history.
“This is an historic day for these courageous Flight Attendants,” Machinists President Tom Buffenbarger said in a press release announcing the filing. “The IAM stands firmly behind the Delta Flight Attendants’ effort to win a strong voice in their profession and stability in a volatile industry.”
The Machinists union is the world’s largest airline union, representing about 100,000 workers at nearly every U.S. airline.
Union Advocate 
[…] many of the 1,800 Delta flight attendants based at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the upcoming vote to form a union is about more than wages, benefits and work rules. It’s about getting back what they lost after […]