ST. PAUL, Minn. — “We don’t want to talk about what we don’t have, we want to talk about what we’re going to get,” ramp worker Rob LaVigne told a Jan. 25 rally of 200 people at the St. Paul Labor Center supporting the union-organizing drive at Delta Air Lines.
“Do you feel respected by Delta Air Lines?” LaVigne said. “Respect is not fearing that you are going to lose your full-time schedule every six months because the company wants to make $4.7 billion in profit, instead of $4.6 billion.”
The rally was sponsored by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Association of Flight Attendants. The IAM is organizing ramp and cargo workers, AFA is organizing the flight attendants. This is the third time workers are trying to establish unions at Delta.
Unionized Northwest Airlines had merged with Delta in 2008. Workers at the combined company then voted down the union by a small majority.
“I’m here today because I had a union” at Northwest, Harrod Anderson, a flight attendant with 30 years experience, told the crowd. When the company tried to discipline and fire him the union fought back.
Colleen Schwartz, with the Delta Association of Flight Attendants organizing committee, told KARE 11 News, “Without Delta being unionized it’s just really holding everybody else back in the whole industry.”
Two ramp workers came to the rally from Atlanta. “We’re being forced to work 20-hour weeks,” one, who didn’t want to be identified for fear of retribution by the bosses, told the Militant. “If workers don’t work a certain number of hours in a year, they’re denied health benefits.”
Other speakers at the rally included AFA President Sara Nelson and Minneapolis Federation of Teachers President Marcia Howard.
A number of area elected officials also spoke, including the 4th District’s U.S. Congresswoman Betty McCollum, a representative of 5th District Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and two members of the Minneapolis City Council.
Other participants included members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Teamsters, Service Employees International Union, Minnesota Nurses Association, and United Auto Workers.