Delta has recently ratcheted up its anti-union campaign, so the ITF’s support comes at a critical juncture in IAM’s campaign to organise the carrier’s 23,000 flight attendants and 14,000 fleet service workers, who are seeking union representation and a voice at work.
ITF general secretary Steve Cotton met IAM officials in Washington DC on 31 October to discuss and co-ordinate global campaign activities.
Mr Cotton told the IAM: “Workers around the globe are prepared to help Delta workers achieve a strong, collective voice and finally bring fairness and security to their jobs.
“The ITF has worked closely with the IAM to organise Delta workers, and they have our full support. Organising 37,000 workers requires a global initiative and the ITF is helping mobilise union members on every continent where Delta flies.
“Together we will see these campaigns through until Delta workers can sit across the table from management and negotiate the fair contract they deserve.”
IAM general vice president Sito Pantoja thanked the ITF for standing with the IAM and said its support and dedication of resources was an integral part of the IAM’s campaign.
The IAM’s five-year Delta flight attendant campaign – the largest airline organising drive in the industry’s history – is making strong progress, despite Delta’s spending thousands of dollars to quash the workers’ right to freedom of association and join a union.
The IAM represented fleet service workers at Northwest Airlines before the carrier merged with Delta. After a bitter, hard-fought representation election, during which the US government cited Delta for numerous violations of labour election rules, the fleet service workers were stripped of their collective bargaining rights.
