The Delta trade union poster on video games did not work well

Two posters produced by Delta to dissuade thousands of its workers from joining a union have been widely criticized after being published on social media on Thursday.

The posters included messages targeting the price of premiums that would be paid by the company's workers if the union were formed.

"Union dues cost about $ 700 a year," it was noted. "A new video game system with the latest hits seems fun. Put your money for it instead of paying dues to the union. "

The other, with a picture of a football, was framed in the same way.

"What does $ 700 mean to you?" "Nothing is better than spending an evening watching football with your friends. Any union dues you pay each year could buy a few turns. "

In the busy world of social media, in which discussions of socialism and the evils of unhindered capitalism infiltrate into the conversations of a reinvigorated left, the posters fell with a thump .

"You know what seems fun @ Delta", Rick Smith, a liberal podcaster, tweeted. "Health care, a living wage, dignity, respect, a voice at work, a safe working condition, retirement security, $ 700 is a great investment once you look at everything you get."

The posters also attracted the attention of senior left-wing officials, including presidential candidate Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). They said that they were "condescending".

"A gambling system can not give you: fair wages, health benefits, job security, retirement benefits," Brown wrote on Twitter.

One of the most popular tweets from one of the posters was shared about 22,000 times.

But the response to the Delta posters, where efforts to organize some 44,000 workers – separate campaigns for flight attendants and ramp workers, towers and freight – have been going on for years, was not clear in the immediate future.

James Carlson, a coordinator of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the union that employs to organize workers, said he did not know where the # The poster had been distributed but an employee had already told him about it. He said Delta was lining its break rooms with employees with anti-union leaflets.

"Some look like what you saw today: a stupid insulting message inviting you to spend your money on a video game system instead of union dues," he said. "They try to interfere in the exercise of freedom of association by employees. And that's not allowed. "

Delta spokesperson, Lisa Hanna, has not responded to a request for confirmation of the authenticity of the posters.

"Our employees enjoy the best total compensation in the industry, including the most lucrative profit-sharing program in the world," said a statement. "They want and deserve the facts and we respect the right of our employees to decide if a union is right for them. Delta has shared many communications that, as a whole, make it clear that deciding whether or not to join a union should not be taken lightly. "

Carlson said staffing efforts began in 2013, a few years after the merger of Delta and Northwest, resulting in the loss of union representation of Northwest's ramp, customer service and store employees. IAM is currently collecting union cards signed by the workers; the 50% support of the working group would allow a vote on the union.

Lance Compa, a lecturer and union expert at the School of Industrial and Professional Relations at Cornell University, said Delta was known to be anti-union. Compa said he was not surprised that the company had targeted union dues as part of its recent campaign.

"Someone took that on the shelf," he says. "The question of union dues has always been a major concern for employers."

[Supreme Court rules against public unions collecting fees from nonmembers]

Compa said many large companies employ law firms and anti-union consultants to help reduce union efforts. They also use strategies such as anti-union speeches, so-called "captive audience" meetings, in which executives try to warn employees of the negative effects of a union, and individual meetings.

"It's a multi-billion dollar industry," said Compa. "This is the normal procedure for companies when workers start to organize."

Carlson said Delta had met with employees to postpone the union's campaign.

"They inform employees about the severity of the union and its effectiveness at Delta, as well as why you do not need the union," he said. "If you are a flight attendant, you have a briefing before your flight."

Compa said that US labor law makes it illegal to threaten or retaliate against workers who form a union, but allows companies the opportunity to predict adverse consequences, such as job losses and job losses. dismissals. But the legal distinction is not always clear for the workers, he said.

He said that he thought there was a more positive atmosphere for unionization than it was several years ago. He said that he thought the organizing efforts of digital media companies, although highly publicized, had had an effect.

"All this wealth is flowing to the top, and the workers are starting to say, wait a minute, we deserve some of that," he said. "The expectation was that [millennials] were very individualistic and they would not be interested in unionization. But they were faced with the same problems as workers in a subordinate work relationship – pressure for more production, more hours of work … while maintaining wages and benefits. "

A wave of unionization has swept the digital media companies in New York in recent years, among which Gizmodo Media Group, now known as G / O Media, Intercept, Vox and Vice, a small but visible movement that has shown a renewed appetite for unions among young workers.

Over the past year, the workplace organization has begun to prove its worth in Silicon Valley, where employees of companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce have protested against the company's policy and products in the United States. a variety of forums, including petitions and walkouts. In March, Kickstarter crowdfunding platform staff announced their intention to join a union, which would be a first for a leading technology company.

The anti-union action of Delta includes a very elaborate website, DontRiskItDontSignIt.com, which warns of "the dangers of IAM" – pointing to a Justice Department investigation into an attempt to unionize into a separate business starting in 2015, as well as misappropriation investigations and other wrongdoings involving a dozen union officials from across the country.

"12 reasons not to trust IAM with your money," says the report.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Delta generated pre-tax income of $ 5.2 billion in 2018 and gave approximately $ 1.3 billion to its employees in bonuses.

The union's supporters have been quick to point out the company's financial success in recent years: it generated $ 10.5 billion in sales in the first quarter of the year and saw its profits rise by 31%. % to 730 million dollars. Its chief executive, Ed Bastian, reportedly received $ 13.2 million in compensation in 2017.

Delta's flight attendants, who earn an average of $ 58,000 a year, were looking for a salary increase to align with those of competing companies such as United, American and Southwest, according to a fact sheet distributed by Carlson.

Previous efforts to syndicate Delta's flight attendants, which currently number about 24,000, according to Carlson, have failed over the years.

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