NMB Refuses to Remedy Delta's Interference in AFA-CWA 2010 Election

AFA's Shook: 'A Shameful, Illogical and Cowardly Decision'

CWA and AFA-CWA are condemning a National Mediation Board decision to take no action against Delta Air Lines for interfering in the September 2010 union election for its 25,000 Flight Attendants.

Union leaders said the Board ignored Flight Attendants' numerous complaints about management's aggressive tactics to influence the vote. The election was decided by just 328 votes out of nearly 19,000 cast, yet the NMB ruled that Delta's conduct didn't affect the outcome.

Among the complaints, Flight Attendants said supervisors pressured them by making contact with them at home; urging them to vote on company computers where they could be monitored; and preventing pro-union Flight Attendants from talking with each other.

The NMB decision throws out 60 years of bargaining rights for Northwest Flight Attendants, who became Delta employees when the airlines merged, and denies Delta Flight Attendants any say over their working conditions, said AFA-CWA President Veda Shook.

"The NMB has now given a green light to all manner of employer coercion and intimidation during representation elections," Shook said. "It is a shameful, illogical and cowardly decision."