IAM Delta

In our last communication, we highlighted the fact that Delta Pilots rank near the top the industry in wages and salaries as a percentage of Delta's operating revenue while Delta Flight Attendants ranked near the bottom. Delta Corporate claimed all Delta employee groups--including Pilots--would rank near the bottom because of the sheer amount of revenue generated by Delta. That's simply not true. Delta Corporate hasn't said much since we pointed out this inconvenient fact. One must ask, why? 

If we ranked third in sharing our airline's revenue instead of seventh, our average wages and salaries would increase by well over $10,000 a year. Don't we at least deserve to be third among industry Flight Attendants? Better yet, shouldn't we be number one? 

With a Voice we can negotiate higher salaries that are fair and commensurate with the success that we work so hard to help create.

In the below post found in the facebook group "No Way AFA," the author demonstrates either her misunderstanding of the latest IAM-Delta communication or an intentional misrepresentation of the facts.

The communication highlights the fact that Delta Flight Attendants are at the bottom of the industry in sharing the operating revenues that they work so hard to generate.

The author conveniently disregards this point. She then claims the IAM somehow manipulated the data, even though she provides absolutely no evidence whatsoever and all the data is properly sourced.

In no way does the communication claim that Flight Attendants at Frontier or Allegiant--two of the smallest carriers in the industry--"make more" than Delta Flight Attendants, as the author states.

What the communication does claim, rightly, is that Flight Attendants at Allegiant, United, American, Southwest, Alaska and Hawaiian do receive a larger share of their employers' revenue than do Delta Flight Attendants. That's patently unfair.

The communication further points out the importance of this metric when negotiating a collective bargaining agreement. Analyzing what constitutes a "fair share" of operating revenues is a core function of negotiators preparing for collective bargaining. 

For example, if Delta Flight Attendants just received the share that United Flight Attendants receive--three percent--Delta Flight Attendants average salaries would increase by well over $10,000 per year. That's because Delta Flight Attendants are by far the most productive Flight Attendants in the airline industry.

Source: DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In a recent “Rumor Has It,” Delta Corporate does its best to obscure a basic issue: Delta Flight Attendants are at the bottom of the industry when calculating our fair share of Delta’s operating revenues.

  Unfortunately, this is nothing new at Delta. Delta Corporate doesn’t want us to look at our average salaries as a percentage of the overall revenue picture because they know full well that when we do, the picture isn’t pretty. Delta Corporate also implies that our wages would be subject to change from quarter to quarter due to changes in revenue. False.

Delta’s 2009 operating revenues decreased by approximately 14 percent but our share dedicated to our wages and salaries increased by .4 percent. The truth is, our share of the operating revenue that we work very hard to generate has remained between 2–2.4 percent in the last five years—at the bottom of the industry—no matter what the increase or decrease in operating revenue.

Delta Corporate further states that it is not aware of any airline that sets pay according to operating revenue. 

Why would they? Industry Flight Attendant pay rates are set at the negotiating table; the exception being Delta and JetBlue.

When employees with a voice prepare to negotiate with a company regarding pay rates, they analyze the revenue environment and the share of that revenue that other similar groups in the industry receive.

Says Peter Greenberg, IAM Senior Research Analyst and former IAM-Continental Flight Attendant negotiator, “When we would prepare for negotiations at Continental Airlines, we would have a complete analysis of Continental’s revenue situation and what our share of that revenue was.” 

“The fact is,” Greenberg says, “if Delta Flight Attendants received the same share of Delta’s operating revenue as, let’s say, United Flight Attendants receive, then their average salaries would increase by well over $10,000 per year.”

That’s a fair and valid comparison, albeit inconvenient for Delta Corporate's lawyers.

Delta Corporate also states that our analysis is not valid because it accounts for “other system revenues,” as if United and American don’t have “other system revenues.”

Lastly, Delta Corporate misleads that if you analyze Delta Pilots’ average wages and salaries as a percentage of operating revenue they too would rank at or near the bottom because of the sheer size of Delta’s operating revenue. This claim is false. In fact, Delta Pilots rank first among the legacy carriers—Delta, United and American—and third overall in the industry. More on that later.