NEVER COMPROMISE WITH UNCOMPROMISING PEOPLE

“IF IT’S NOT BROKEN WHY FIX IT?”
BASTIAN MINNESOTA TESTIMONY TELLS ALL


Recently our President and CFO, Ed Bastian, was spending time attempting to answer questions and soothe nerves with the understandably nervous Minnesota Legislature. One of the questions put to him was what about the union status of Northwest people when (IF) they become Delta employees. Would the union be welcomed?

His reply was worrisome. Why the need for a union at Delta, he said; “if it’s not broken why fix it?” His plans for the future combined Delta Air Lines apparently don’t include the employees’ voice, the IAM, or any other union on property, except of course the well established and cozy relationship shared with the pilot’s union.

When CEO Richard Anderson was recently testifying before congress, a persistent and tough congresswoman pushed Mr. Anderson to tell whether or not he would remain neutral in the ongoing union campaigns at Delta. Mr. Anderson, in an evasive and lawyerly manner, answered that he would be neutral to the extent that he would always follow NMB (National Mediation Board) rules.

Mr. Anderson, you have many managers and supervisors who have NEVER followed them nor have any intention of EVER following them. We surmise that you know this and they are simply following instructions provided through your management team to them. Your testimony before Congress coupled with this wink-and-a-nod to your management team is shameful and disrespectful to us, your hard working and loyal employees.

It all comes down to intentional misinterpretation of the rules themselves. We have seen that Richard Anderson was not entirely open and honest with Congress. The rules are constantly being challenged by overzealous supervisors who ride the edge of interfering in the Union campaign, some may even pass over the edge. Their objective is successful when many organizers are intimidated into not passing out literature. This is unfortunate, but sadly part of management’s master plan.

Remember that $23 an hour job you used to have that turned into a $17 dollar an hour job over night? We have recently had success in slowly bringing that number back up slightly but still have so far to go. If we allow this management team to succeed in breaking this combined future union effort, the direction of our pay will surely move more towards $14 an hour rather than the $23 we used to make.

The ONLY thing that stands in the way of this grand plan is the Union we have been fighting to join and the one our soon to be co-workers at NWA already belong to, the IAM. We, as combined workers at this new carrier, simply will not survive financially if we allow a collective bargaining unit to disappear. It will be one less deterrent for the airlines to further strip us of our job security, economic well being and healthcare safety net.

Stand tall and don’t buy the baloney and rhetoric coming your way about our future. Our success is in our hands to keep or toss away.

The choice is coming: Union or no union? A real living wage with a more secure future, or pay that does not meet our needs with a day-to-day existence? Which is it going to be?

Sign your IAM card today!