Another group of Delta Air Lines workers has rejected union representation, in the last of a series of elections this year that appear to have closed the door on any wave of unionization at the company in the wake of its merger with Northwest.
Customer-service employees, who include gate, ticket counter and reservations agents, voted against representation by the International Association of Machinists in balloting that concluded Tuesday. Their vote followed similar rejections by Delta flight attendants, baggage handlers and stock clerks last month.
Nearly 70 percent of 12,518 votes cast were against representation, according to the National Mediation Board. About 81 percent of eligible workers voted.
The Machinists union said it plans to appeal on grounds of management interference. The flight attendants union -- which lost much more narrowly, with 51 percent of votes against unionization -- already has appealed to the Mediation Board for a repeat election.
Barring orders for new elections and union wins, the outcomes of the voting this fall ensures Delta will continue its long history as the industry's most lightly-unionized carrier, with pilots the only large work group represented.
Barry Hirsch, a professor of economics at Georgia State University, said the decision may have been as much about economics as culture for many workers.
"Delta has long paid wages and benefits similar to those at large unionized carriers. If it did not, unions would have been successful at organizing Delta workers," said Hirsch. Because of that, "there's not a large economic gain to voting for a union," while unionization would mean workers would pay dues.
He added that Delta workers already benefit indirectly from unions at other airlines.
"Unions clearly raise wages for the industry," Hirsch said, adding "they are also raising [wages] for Delta."
The customer service workers had been voting since Nov. 2 on representation by the Machinists. Of the votes cast for a union, 3,638 were for the Machinists union and 134 were write-in votes.
The elections were necessary to settle labor issues from Delta's 2008 merger with Northwest, where most worker groups, unlike Delta's, were unionized.
Before this fall's elections among the major work groups, several smaller groups went non-union without voting or through smaller elections.
Asked why union-backers fared so poorly, Machinists union spokesman Joe Tiberi said, "When we file our appeal and lay out our interference claims, it will be pretty clear."
Aside from any repeat votes stemming from appeals, at least one more election could be held next year. The Machinists union also last month filed for a union representation election among Delta's roughly 2,200 office and clerical workers. The Mediation Board will determine if an election has the required support from 35 percent of employees in the group.
Delta has characterized this year's votes as an endorsement of its management culture. It has termed the claims of interference and calls for new elections "ridiculous."
In a written statement Tuesday, Delta said, "There is no better testament to how well the direct relationship works at Delta than the fact that the results of these post-merger elections . . . have been the same."
Delta management had fended off organizing drives before the Northwest merger, most notably two failed drives among flight attendants in 2002 and 2008. The presumed built-in union support from Northwest workers, coupled with union-friendly changes in voting rules, led many to expect a different outcome in the latest elections.
The Mediation Board, whose makeup in the past year has tilted toward members with union ties, last summer ordered an election rules change that made it easier for unions to organize. Under the new rules unions must gain support only from a majority of workers who cast ballots, rather than from a majority of all workers eligible to vote. The old rule meant any worker who didn't vote was essentially voting no.
"What this says is it doesn't matter what the rules are. Our people are saying they don't want to be represented" by the Machinists union or the flight attendants union, said Mike Campbell, Delta's executive vice president of human resources and labor relations. "It's now time to move forward and bring our people together so we all can share in the benefits of the merger."
However, Campbell said, the company must hold off on the full integration of pay, benefits and work rules between the Delta and Northwest workers until any filings of interference charges are resolved. He said he thinks the Mediation Board should dismiss any such claims.
Delta gate agent Jay Parsley, who helped organize an anti-union campaign in the latest vote, said the outcome showed that "our people believe in Delta... Our management listens to us and we listen to our management team." He also said Delta customer service employees are paid more than their counterparts from Northwest.
"For the majority of the Northwest customer service agents, I think their main fear was just the unknown of not having a union, because that's all they ever had," Parsley said.
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