Delta flight attendants push seniority integration

ATLANTA — Backed by management, a group of flight attendants at Delta Air Lines Inc. who were with the company before its acquisition of Northwest Airlines want the two carriers' seniority lists combined based on date of hire, and they are pushing the union that represents Northwest flight attendants to move forward with the plan.

Atlanta-based Delta issued a statement Thursday saying that the group of pre-merger Delta flight attendants, who are not represented by a union, recently sent their proposal to the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents Northwest flight attendants.

The move comes despite the fact that AFA-CWA and the union that represents Northwest ground workers have sued Delta seeking to block its effort to proceed with seniority list integration of the respective employee groups until the combined groups are given the opportunity to vote on union representation.

Union representation elections involving the roughly 22,000 flight attendants and about 22,000 customer service agents and baggage handlers at Delta and Northwest have not been scheduled.

There was no immediate response Thursday to e-mails The Associated Press sent to three spokeswomen for the AFA-CWA seeking comment.

The seniority list integration method chosen by the group of pre-merger Delta flight attendants is different from the method an arbitration panel chose for pilots at Delta and Northwest. In the case of the pilots, the panel ruled that their seniority lists should be combined based on pilots' status and aircraft category, though pilots from one carrier will not be able to fly for a period of time certain planes that the other carrier brought to the combination.

Employees in various work groups value their seniority because based on their position on the list, they may have the opportunity for higher pay and first dibs on vacation and other benefits. For pilots, those at the top of the list get first choice on vacations, the best routes and the bigger planes that they get paid more for flying.

As for the flight attendants dispute, the AFA-CWA claims in its lawsuit that Delta "initiated, organized and sponsored the election" of the representatives of the pre-merger Delta flight attendants, and that the carrier also is "financing the costs of the committee, including compensation for flight attendants elected to the committee."

A Delta spokeswoman said Thursday that the pre-merger Delta flight attendants group acted on its own to put a seniority list integration proposal forward, and she noted that the group was elected by its peers.