At Delta Air Lines, A Labor Union Gets A Foot In The Door

Forbes

02-04-2025

Delta Air Lines has long been successful at battling labor unions, but the Transport Workers Union is nibbling around the edges.
The union, which has about 65,000 airline industry workers, said last week that it had organized about 100 bus operators and supervisors who provide shuttle services for Delta at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The workers are not employed by Delta, but rather by Atlanta-based Unifi, the country's largest ground handling and aviation services company. Delta owns 48% of Unifi.
"Delta is definitely the economic employer, even though they own about half of the entity,' said TWU President John Samuelsen, in an interview. 'They make all the economic decisions; they pull the economic purse strings.
"The contract negotiation might not be against Delta, but the contract fight will be with Delta," Samuelsen said.
A Delta spokesman declined to comment for this story. A Unifi spokeswoman said, 'Unifi has a diverse workforce, including both union and non-union employees. We are committed to supporting and advocating for our entire team. Our focus remains on elevating all our employees and fostering a productive and respectful work environment.' She did not comment on when contract talks would begin.
Samuelsen said the workers will join TWU Local 100, a historic local with about 43,000 members including 40,000 bus and subway workers. 'On our end we're still taking steps to prepare for bargaining,' he said. 'The rank and file will be the nucleus of the bargaining committee.
'I'm looking forward to engaging Delta,' he said. 'If they don't come to terms, Delta is going to be in for the biggest strategic campaign of their existence if they don't settle.'
An recent story in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was headlined, '100 Years (Mostly) Union-free: Delta Is Still Striving to Stay 'Different.'' The story noted that about 20% of Delta's 100,000 workforce is unionized, compared with 87% at American and 82% at United and Southwest. Only pilots, flight dispatchers, and flight attendants at subsidiary regional carrier Endeavor Air are union members.
In the past 20 years, twelve votes by four unions have failed at Delta, the newspaper said. Currently, the Association of Flight Attendants is seeking to organize flight attendants, while the International Association of Machinists is seeking to organize ramp and cargo workers.
Delta recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, while TWU Local 100 celebrated the 99th anniversary of the day its co-founder, Mike Quill, arrived in New York from Ireland.
On March 2, 1925, the world's first aerial crop-dusting company and largest privately-owned aircraft fleet in the U.S. incorporated as Huff Daland Dusters began carrying mail. It evolved into Delta.
On March 17, 1926, Quill arrived in New York from Ireland. He went to work as a night gate security man for the IRT, then an independent subway line. He started Local 100 in 1934.
Perhaps the two vibrant, historic, highly visible institutions -- one the most successful U.S. airline, the other among the most successful labor union locals – are due for a fight.