.png)
We Believe...
In today’s corporate world, workers are discouraged from discussing aspects of compensation like wages, healthcare, or retirement and only worry about themselves. Your brothers and sisters working to unionize Delta workers disagree with that. We believe in total transparency and that workers only win when they stand together and demand what they are owed based on the billions of dollars our labor creates.
How We Stack Up
With that belief in mind, what follows is a breakdown of the major aspects of compensation and work rules to compare Delta against the other major airlines.
To have a complete picture of wages and benefits for workers around the industry, we need to start by looking at the revenue and profits of the four largest airlines (Delta, United, American, and Southwest). This will show where Delta workers are falling behind and how Delta could quickly provide industry-leading compensation in every category and STILL be the most profitable airline.​
Just for fun, let's look at CEO compensation as well.
*Citation One Mile At A Time - Highest Paid CEO
Delta workers have worked tirelessly to make Delta Air Lines the best US airline. This is according to major publications like Forbes and The Points Guy, who named Delta the best airline for the sixth consecutive year in 2023. ​
Delta makes certain its CEO is extremely well compensated ,
so why aren’t the workers who create those profits?​​
Pay Comparisons
When comparing pay scales between Delta and unionized airlines, one important thing to note is that Delta’s pay scale has raises on half-year rather than the whole year (1.5, 2.5, 3.5, etc.), so it takes Delta workers six months longer to reach the top of the scale, at 10.5 years. The unionized carriers have raises on whole years ( 1, 2, 3, etc.).
​
There are also high cost-of-living adjustments for certain states and stations (some of which are mandated by airport ordinances). But when it comes to Delta, those only impact the first four years: after that, workers will be on the base pay scale shown here.
*Both United and American are in negotiations this year, so expect their pay to jump past Delta and Southwest soon.
Delta may be "industry-leading" in profits, but not in pay.
Vacation
Delta workers accrue the least vacation time among major carriers and at the slowest rate. It doesn’t matter if you prefer more total vacation time or accruing it faster because Delta workers accrue less of it and more slowly. Delta workers are losing on both accounts.
_edited.jpg)
Industry-leading vacation? Nope. Delta's at the bottom of the pack.
Retirement
Here is a table that assumes a full 401k contribution and match, average 6% growth year over year, and a 20-year retirement. These are the monthly payments that could be expected for a worker from Delta and United.
Most people do not think about retirement when they start working, so here is some basic information.
There are two common types of retirement plans: 401k and pensions. A 401k is typically funded by contributions from both the worker and the company with a set percentage match that depends on a healthy stock market to grow (examples include the 2008 crisis when 401k's lost 32% of their value, or in 2022, they lost 20.5%). On the other hand, a pension plan is one where the company contributes a set dollar amount into a worker's account for each hour worked; this translates into a guaranteed monthly payment. For example, United contributes $2.05 for each hour worked, which results in a retired worker receiving $89 per month per year of service. Because the worker does not need to contribute to it, that means more money stays in their pocket each paycheck.
The retirement plan for Delta workers is a 401k plan. We are offered a 6% match combined with a 3% automatic contribution, totaling up to 15%. This falls behind the only other major airline to offer a 401k-only option, Southwest. They offer a 10% match that equals 20% when combined with the employee's contribution. Even in the Delta family, we fall way short. In 2024, the pilots union contract provides a 17% contribution by the company, with no employee contribution. Can you imagine how different your retirement and income could be if you had 17% of your pay stay in your pocket and 17% of your income was still put into your 401k?
Both United and American offer a combo retirement of a pension and 401k. For example, along with United’s pension plan, they also offer a 401K plan that has a 3% match. A 25-year worker who retires tomorrow would receive $2,225 each month for their entire retirement from pension alone. That passes projections of what a Delta worker would receive from their 401k-based retirement, and once you add in additional 401K plans offered by United and American, they could receive between $700 and $1,000 more each month than a Delta worker with the same seniority.
Want a comfortable retirement? Get pension and a 401k with a union contract.
PPT/Sick Time
While Delta workers don’t have “sick time,” they do have PPT that is mainly used for sick time or injuries. A few years ago, Delta changed the way workers accrued it. Originally, it was front-loaded into our hours bank at the beginning of the year. Now, we have to accrue it with a yearly cap of 56 hours. While the unionized carriers also have an accrual system, they are able to accrue between 80 and 96 hours per year, depending on the carrier. That is an extra week of sick time per year more than Delta workers have.
The union workers can also roll those hours over into a bank, with a maximum of 1,600 to 2,800 hours, depending on the contract. This means there is a potential for over a year's worth of sick time saved for when a worker is sick or hurt.
Sick and tired of no sick pay? A union will get it for you.
Safety
Above all else, the worker’s first goal is to leave work the same way we arrived. Safety is the number one priority for both workers and passengers because, at the end of the day, everyone wants to go back home to their loved ones. Both Delta and the unionized carriers have safety committees, but Delta’s has no teeth because it is not obligated to listen to the workers' concerns.
A serious example is the lightning strike shown in this photo. A storm had rolled in with nearby strikes while station management refused to close the ramp. Eventually, lightning struck near two gates that had active flights being loaded by workers. The strike was so close that both planes were taken out of service and many of the workers went home feeling ill and lightheaded. When the issue was raised with station management, they said that the software had failed. That's it. No promise to resolve the issue, no steps to make sure it never happend again, nothing.
While this was happening for Delta, the union carriers at the same airport were inside because their operations closed the ramp due to safety concerns.
We are not disposable. With a union, safety and your life matter.
On the Job Injury (OJI) Pay
You do not need to be in the operation long before you encounter the lagging OJI pay policy that Delta has, whether it is for yourself or one of your peers. Delta does not offer a supplemental OJI pay protection plan, leaving the injured worker to rely on Worker’s Comp offered by their state. This means that if you are injured, you must first wait seven calendar days after the injury to start collecting Workers Comp, which only covers 60% of what you would have earned. After that initial period, you are forced to use your PPT -- or even vacation time -- to make up the difference between Worker’s Comp and a full paycheck.
On the unionized flipside, each year United workers can accrue up to 1200 hours of Occupational Injury Leave, both full and part-time. That is used to supplement Worker’s Compensation up to their regular pay. So unless an employee is out for an extended amount of time, they will never need to dip into their sick or vacation time to guarantee a full paycheck. They also have the choice to roll over remaining sick bank hours into OJI hours.
​
This is a direct quote from the Southwest contract: “The Company will make up no less than the difference between the amount paid by Worker's Compensation and the amount the Employee would have earned (after tax withholding) if he had worked a regular shift.” The company is responsible for ensuring the employee receives the equivalent of their full paycheck.
The union workers can also roll those hours over into a bank, with a maximum of 1,600 to 2,800 hours, depending on the contract. This means there is a potential for over a year's worth of sick time saved for when a worker is sick or hurt.
​
Delta OJI benefits simply don't stack up.
​
Tired of taking a 40% paycut when injured? A union can change that .
Flight Benefits & Profit Sharing
One of Delta's most frequent lies is that bringing in a union would mean we would lose profit-sharing. This is false in many different ways.
To begin with, the only group that would try to remove profit-sharing from negotiations would be Delta themselves. Delta workers would vote on a union contract, and we all know no worker would vote for a contract without profit-sharing. Just look at Delta pilots: they are unionized and still have profit-sharing.
Outside of Delta, every major airline offers profit-sharing in their union contracts. United, American, and Southwest offer it, with Southwest being the first airline to introduce it in 1973.
​
Like profit-sharing, another common fear tactic from Delta is to threaten the loss of flight benefits if a union is brought in. Again, that is an outright lie.
United, American, and Southwest all have flight benefits written into their contracts. Besides, Delta workers in Canada are unionized under the United Steelworkers, and flight benefits are written into their contract.
These are empty threats from Delta.
Delta's lying when they say flight benefits and profit-sharing go away with a union.
Healthcare
In the fall of 2022, like every year, Delta workers had their open enrollment for the following year's healthcare plans. Workers took their choice of three limited options and thought that their next year of healthcare was set. Little did they know that a month later, they would be receiving a second insurance card because Delta had unilaterally changed providers from UnitedHealthcare to UMR, a third-party subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare, with no significant notice to the workers.
Many workers were notified of this change when they went to see their usual doctor or clinic only to be denied care because of the unexpected change in insurance. Workers with chronic health conditions were forced to find new doctors on short notice. The cost of a children’s inhaler rocketed up to $1,400 per month, and insulin needles became so expensive that even pharmacists had to ask who was the patient’s employer. Workers could no longer access the second-largest pharmacy in the country, Walgreens, and were still saddled with another year of increased premiums.
The unionized carriers, on the other hand, have a multitude of choices (some up to 10 different plans) and have the same premiums over the course of their contracts. This ability to have true choice allows for people to find plans that perfectly fit them and/or their families.
​​
​
Can we really afford to trust our and our family's health to a corporation that makes decisions for us based on its bottom line?
Bump Caps
Here is a letter from the General Vice President, Richie Johnsen, in which he addresses Ed Bastian with workers' concerns and encourages the removal of the policy.
A few years ago, Delta introduced bump caps with much pushback from ramp workers. Delta leadership has ignored complaints of discomfort, excessive heat, and possible heat stroke. We are told we just need to "deal with it." Workers across the system have placed thermometers under their bump caps during the summer months, often reading at 130 or 140 degrees Fahrenheit!
​
Delta workers are the only workforce in the industry with mandatory bump cap use. That is because every unionized carrier recognizes the risks they pose.
​
Even though the IAM does not yet represent us, they are already advocating for Delta workers and fighting for the removal of the bump cap policy.
Scrap the cap!
Off-Scheduled Lunches, Short Hours, and Overtime
Work rules established and enforced by a union can put thousands of dollars per year back into our pockets. The contracts for United, American, and Southwest include things that do not exist for Delta workers. Three of these are Off-Scheduled Lunches (OSL), short hours, and different mandatory OT guidelines.
In the American contract, there are guidelines that your lunch should fall between the third and fifth hours of your shift. If it does not, you will receive an extra thirty minutes of pay at time-and-a-half. The Southwest contract not only has guidelines if a lunch doesn’t fall within certain hours, they also receive 2 hours of extra pay if they do not receive a lunch at all. How often is your lunch at the beginning or end of your shift, or not at all? If it happens two or three times every week, that is thousands of dollars added to your paycheck each year.
There are times when a worker needs to stay an extra five or ten minutes after their shift to complete a task. In the Northwest contract, for example, if you stayed more than a few minutes to complete a task, you would receive a full extra hour of pay, regardless of when you punched out. An extra hour of pay for five minutes of work is a fantastic deal for the worker.
Another way Delta workers are losing money is when they are held for mandatory overtime. We all have experienced it, either during IROPs, software outages, or scheduling issues. What union contracts have, like the one at Southwest, is the language that pays any mandatory overtime at double time. Doesn’t matter if you work 40 hours a week or 20. Any time you have a mandatory holdover, you are paid double your hourly rate.
With these three additions alone your union dues would be paid for three or four times over.
Union-enforceable work rules mean money in your pocket!
Knowledge is Power
One of our greatest weapons against Delta's propaganda is knowing what is in other airline's union contracts. However, they can be hard to obtain, and are often long, dry documents to read.
In that spirit, here are the current contracts for United, American, and Southwest. You will find more about the topics above, along with some fun ideas like signing bonuses at the start of a contract. Once we move into negotiations for our first contract, we can use these as a starting point, but ultimately, Delta workers can shape things however they please and demand items not in other contracts.
​
We also have a "First Contract Wishlist" put together with input from workers across the country. This is by no means a complete list, but a way to collect ideas and opinions and create an image of what our future could look like.
FAQ
​
ARE UNIONS AN OUTSIDE THIRD PARTY?
-
Unions are not an outside third party. Every union position from president to steward is elected and must be a Delta worker. Workers vote on their leaders, their contract, their union bylaws, and what their dues rate will be.
-
It's Delta that loves third parties. A third party runs our attendance line; our healthcare is now a third-party subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare; and our FMLA is run by Sedgewick, which is a third party.
WHY CAN'T WE UNIONIZE STATION BY STATION?
-
As airline employees, we fall under the Railway Labor Act when it comes to organizing for a union. This means that we must unionize the entire system across the country, making our union drive the largest active drive in the country.
HOW MUCH ARE DUES? WHY SHOULD I PAY DUES? WHEN DO I BEGIN PAYING DUES?
-
Union dues are set by the international and the locals (through a vote), but the industry average is about $70 per month (and less for lower-paid or part-time workers). Your dues go towards things like the negotiating team that will attain industry-leading pay and benefits, lawyers that protect your interests and not the company's, or local offices for workers to meet and discuss current issues and how to resolve them. The return on pay and benefits far exceeds the $70 in dues. Even the extra pay union workers get for receiving no lunch would far exceed $70 per month. Add in a pay increase, vacation, sick time, and short hours, and those dues will provide a return a dozen times over.
-
You will not pay a single cent in union dues until the first contract is voted on and approved by workers. But in that time you will still receive the right to have representation any time you meet with management. And what we currently have becomes our contract (meaning you can't lose anything).
I'M A PT/SEASONAL WORKER, AND I LOVE MY SCHEDULE. WHAT DOES A UNION DO FOR ME?
-
A union will help you negotiate to keep the schedule that works for you. In many of the union contracts, there are ratios agreed upon for the split of full-time, part-time, and seasonal schedules. As we have seen across the system over the last few years, there are no guarantees that the schedule you have for this bid will be there the next. A union can put that into a legally binding contract and prevent your life from being thrown up into the air.
MY MANAGER SAID . . .
-
If your manager threatens the loss of benefits, like profit-sharing or flight benefits, then they are breaking the law. According to the Railway Labor Act, if they say a union will take something away, they could face a fine of up to $20,000 and up to six months in jail. That manager is either misinformed or lying to you to benefit Delta.
THE COMPANY SAYS THAT IT WILL TAKE YEARS TO NEOGITATE A CONTRACT.
-
Not true. The latest contracts the IAM has negotiated have taken 4, 6, 8, and 9 months.
-
Because union members at United, and Southwest stood united in their contract negotiations, those corporations were forced to treat their workers fairly and settle the contract in a timely manner. Delta workers will stand united as well when we have our union.
DO I HAVE RIGHTS TO SIGN A UNION CARD OR HAVE OTHERS DO THE SAME?
-
Yes! Your rights to unionize are federally protected under the Railway Labor Act. It is illegal for Delta or their managers to interfere with your exercising of your rights in any way. If you haven't yet signed a union card, you can get a card here.​
HOW CAN I GET MORE INVOLVED?
-
If you have already signed a card, speak with your immediate coworkers and encourage them to do the same. You can also email DeltaWorkersUnited@gmail.com, and we can set you up with your local organizer.