We Are Organizing to Win!

Last week, dozens of Delta AFA Flight Attendant activists from all over the system met in Atlanta, GA for our Delta AFA Activist meeting. Many experienced activists were joined by newly recruited flight attendants and together we committed to working together to secure our union!

We had special guest appearances from several labor organizers who expressed their solidarity with our campaign. Captain Jason Ambrosi, MEC Chairman of Delta ALPA, who committed to supporting our organizing efforts. He updated us on their negotiations. Sandra Lee Williams, Executive Director of the Atlanta North Georgia Labor Council gave a rousing speech while expressing her solidarity and support for our campaign. Angelika Maldonado, Chairwoman of Amazon Labor Union (ALU) Workers Committee, who shared the ALU’s efforts to unionize and their successes. She spoke to us about the challenges they faced in organizing at her warehouse and how they overcame those challenges. Keturah Johnson, AFA International VP, and Dante Harris, AFA International Secretary- Treasurer who were both there to support us and make us feel welcome in the union.

During these two days, Delta AFA Flight Attendant activists discussed the many successes of our Delta AFA campaign and our organizing work going forward. One thing is clear, our organizing is having a positive impact on our jobs as management reacts to our success. Still, we have work to do.

Delta management continues to ignore our voices and they continue to implement changes to our work conditions without our input. COVID-19 infections are once again rising and our safety at work is once again being compromised for service. Delta management recently announced the return of the pre-departure beverage service, amidst all of the more important issues we are facing that are affecting our quality of life. We are flying more due to staffing shortages, our “work rules” are being violated, Crew Scheduling isn’t sufficiently staffed to answer our calls, we are having reduced rest due to improper planning by management, and we are being flown into our off-time, at times into SPT and vacation days. This is unacceptable, we deserve better.

During our meeting, Delta AFA activists analyzed the union busting techniques management uses to keep us divided and compared them to the same playbook used at Amazon and Starbucks. We learned more about the power of a union and the positive impact we could have on our compensation, work rules, and quality of life through collective bargaining.

Our organizing efforts bring us these small victories as Delta management gets nervous about losing control over us, but we deserve more. We deserve respect, a good quality of life, and compensation and work rules we negotiate for. We deserve a contract that includes our voices, a contract we can hold the company accountable to, a contract that locks in our benefits and compensation.

Our Flight Attendant union will be powered by Flight Attendants like you and me. We are organizing for a union because together, we are stronger—sign a card and then sign up to see how you can help form our union at Delta. We are organizing to win!

THANK YOU to the AFA Union Members who supported our meeting and who continue to support our organizing efforts at Delta Air Lines. This is what having our back looks like.

In solidarity,

Delta AFA Flight Attendant Activists