Ripping Unions

Speaking of anti-union companies, look what I found between power outages (it’s a bit windy here) today.

Voter Suppression Receives Attention

”The board also heard testimony from Marianne Bicksler on behalf of Delta flight attendants and the Association of Flight Attendants. Bicksler, who was an inflight supervisor at Delta in 2001, said that as the AFA organizing effort gained momentum, Delta hired a consulting firm specializing in suppressing union elections, and counseled supervisors to “intimidate” flight attendants. “

”Delta management encouraged the Give A Rip campaign against the AFA, which encouraged flight attendants to “give a rip” about the company and rip up their voting ballots. Cornell’s Bronfenbrenner noted in her remarks that “this is not just a Delta issue. We found that employers used this tactic with at least one or more voters in 67% of our sample.” She said this tactic is most disturbing because “once the ballot has been torn up, it represents a no vote even if the voter changes his or her mind.” “

It’s also a quick lesson on how the Railway Labor Act (which governs airline workers) works. Have a read.

Don Brown
December 9, 2009