Delta Sucks at Anti-Union Propaganda

The International Association of Machinists has an ongoing union organizing campaign for cargo and ramp workers at Delta Airlines. In response, Delta, which made five and a half billion dollars in profit last year, has produced some of the most cartoonish, misleading anti-union propaganda you may ever be lucky enough to see!

Delta’s stock has nearly tripled in the past five years, making its investors and executives very rich. Naturally, these executives and investors are only concerned about preserving the special corporate culture and helping the cargo and ramp workers and protecting them from being preyed upon by a union that might sneakily win them better pay and benefits. In addition to the very poorly acted anti-union video you see on top of this post, Delta has put up a website, DontRiskItDontSignIt.com (union cards, that is). Though I am sure Delta paid millions to some union-busting consultants for this site, it lacks a certain subtlety. For example:

• They make the all time classic corporate threat—“During negotiations, everything would be on the table – and as a result, things could get better, stay the same, or get worse.”—without mentioning that the only way that things could get worse would be if they, the Delta corporation, insisted on making them worse, as retaliation.
• Their explanation of what labor unions do includes the criticism that during a union campaign “Uncertainty typically rules for a long time,” and that “Negotiations for a first contract in the airline industry can take years”—two more things that happen as a direct result of Delta’s own conduct, not the union’s.
• The site prominently warns that signing a union card is “NOT confidential, you are giving your personal information to the IAM.” Directly next to this warning is a box where Delta solicits workers’ personal emails to send them more anti-union emails. And, most impressively….
• It includes an ACTUAL cartoon of a “fat cat” union leader, counting money.

I love it!

If anyone is dumb enough to believe this they may not deserve the raise that a union would get them.