Delta CEO Fires Back After Senators Say Airline Is Anti-Union

ATLANTA, GA — Delta CEO Ed Bastian responded to a recent letter he received from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and seven other senators "regarding Delta’s insulting and demeaning anti-union communications directed at the airline’s non-union workforce."

The airline has been taking heat on Twitter and social media for a flyer that Delta officials say is a year old and was once in its breakrooms. The Delta Air Lines’ flyer suggested that union dues would be better spent on video-game systems.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that a median full-time worker covered by a union contract earns 22 percent more in wages than a peer in a non-unionized workplace.

“Your attempts to deny the right of Delta workers to form a union is corporate greed, plain and simple,” conclude the senators. “We urge you to end Delta’s anti-union tactics, make it clear to all of your managers that they should do the same, and allow Delta workers to decide the question of unionization free from fear, intimidation or retaliation.”

Read a PDF of the letter here.

The Delta CEO's response reads, in part, "I agree that the communication recently cited by the IAM – a year-old flyer that was in our breakrooms and removed after a week – was poorly crafted and not an appropriate communication to our people. That's not who we are, and we have taken steps to make sure future messages to our people regarding their choices on representation are always meaningful and respectful of their rights."

The letter from Sentaors, dated May 15, reads, in part: "The lengths that your management team has gone to prevent your employees from having a voice in their future are unacceptable. According to accounts that have reached our offices, Delta has been pushing a constant barrage of literature that includes misrepresentations, mischaracterizations and falsehoods to employees in their break rooms and employee lounges, and the company intranet 'DeltaNet' is being used to further your anti-union bias. These actions violate the dignity and respect of all Delta workers and need to stop.

"Mr. Bastian, you earned almost $40 million in the last two years while paying workers who make Delta Air Lines arguably the most financially successful airline on the planet as little as $9 per hour. Thousands of your employees live paycheck to paycheck and seek IAM representation to better their lives. Instead of allowing Delta workers to decide whether unionizing is right for them free from your influence, you have directed your management to actively interfere with the efforts of your workers to decide this question for themselves."

Bastian fired back this week with a letter of his own.

His letter went on to list points that, he said, shows Delta's track record. Here are some of them:

• Total annual compensation for our people, 80,000 strong, has increased by 80 percent since 2008. I'm unaware of any company our size that can make a similar statement. We've given 10 pay increases over the past 10 years.
• In the past 5 years, our employees have seen their base pay increase by more than 30 percent on average.
• Delta provides strong, middle-class jobs. Your tweet that ramp agents earn $9 per hour is simply wrong – starting salaries are nearly double that rate. And at the top of scale, after 12 years of service, our airport agents and flight attendants earn $74,000 and mechanics earn $121,000 annually. Across the board, these are the best-rewarded airline employees in the world. Rightfully so.
• We have the best profit-sharing plan in our industry and likely throughout America. Effectively 15 percent of the profits of our company go to employees, in addition to their salary. We paid $1.3 billion in profit-sharing last February – our 5th year in a row with payouts in excess of $1 billion. No other company in this country can make that claim.

The letter to the Delta CEO was signed by Senators Bernard Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Robert P. Casey, Jr., Ron Wyden, Tammy Baldwin, Richard Blumenthal, Edward J. Markey, Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley.