The results are in. On February 1, 2002, the
ballots were counted for the first representation election in Delta flight
attendant history. By 2:00 PM EST, the news was breaking
everywhere that the Association of Flight Attendants had suffered the
largest defeat of organized labor in airline industry
history. While claiming to have submitted over fifty
percent of authorization cards to the National Mediation Board (NMB) when
it filed its petition on August 29, 2001, the AFA just
garnered 29% of the 19,033 eligible flight attendant voters. NMB
Press Release
The results were broken down as follows
Number of Eligible Voters |
19,033 |
|
Void Ballots |
36 |
.002%. |
Votes Cast for the AFA |
5,520 |
29.0% |
Votes Cast for Other |
89 |
.005% |
Valid Votes Counted |
5,609 |
29.5% |
Void ballots occur for procedural problems like no signatures.
Votes cast for other may include votes for the TWU, UAW, the Forum, etc.
In order to have been certified to represent us, 50% + 1 would have had
to participate in this election. If the 50%+1 had participated, the union
receiving the most votes would have represented us. In
this election, 71% of us said no to the AFA and union
representation.
However, it is not over. The AFA public relations
plan immediately went to work.
Read:
AFA Press Release
Pat Friend letter to AFA members
Pat Friend letter to Delta flight attendants
But hey, we can spin too
An open letter to our AFA
colleagues
While the AFA contested the election, the NMB ruled against it.
In any event, we won this round, and the election
contest went nowhere.
Score one for the good guys.