Delta boosts pay, but one union calls it ‘crumbs’

Delta Air Lines, which employs close to 1,000 people in South Florida and was Miami International Airport’s second-busiest airline last year, is raising employees’ pay, the carrier said on Monday.

The 5% raise will cover more than 80,000 employees at the Atlanta-based carrier. The new minimum for hourly workers will be $19 an hour, up from $16.55 an hour. Both go into effect on June 1. The company will also allocate a 5% merit pool, a type of bonus, for eligible employees.

The pay bumps spurred criticism from a union representing 50,000 flight attendants at other major U.S. airlines — a labor group trying to organize Delta’s flight attendants. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said the increases were too small and meant to discourage employees from unionizing.

Delta’s corporate leadership touted the wage hikes and the airlines’ performance. In a letter to all Delta employees worldwide dated April 22 and viewed by the Miami Herald, Ed Bastian, chief executive officer of the company said, “the year is off to a strong start, and already you have achieved significant accomplishments.”

$4.6 BILLION IN PROFIT

The carrier, which has grown its operation in South Florida in recent months, reported its largest first-quarter profit since before the COVID-19 pandemic after earning $4.6 billion in profit in 2023. Executives who spoke on that earnings call said, “Delta is delivering the best operational reliability in our history, and we have widened the gap to our competitors.”

They added, “we anticipate continued strong momentum for our business, and in the June quarter, we expect to deliver record revenue.”

The company said this is the third straight year it has raised employees’ pay and the move comes after a profit-sharing initiative that it unveiled in February with a total cost of $1.4 billion.

Delta has at least 500 employees at Miami International Airport and 400 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International and Palm Beach International airports,

Alain Bellemare, Delta’s president of international service, said in an interview with the Herald last

July. He said then that Delta was planning to increase those numbers.

Delta has been growing at Miami International Airport, serving 3.3 million travelers last year.

Delta’s pay hikes are for nonunion employees, including flight attendants, airport customer service, mechanics, reservation agents and cargo workers. Many of them are paid hourly and will receive a 15% increase with the raising of the minimum-wage rate.

By comparison, inflation in the United States was 3.4 % in the 12-month period from Dec. 2022 to Dec. 2023. In Miami, it rose 4.9% over the 12 months ending in Feb. 2024.

One group that is not covered by the raises is pilots, who belong to a union and obtained hefty

34% raises over four years in 2023 negotiations.

With that in mind, some flight attendants were not impressed with Delta’s latest announced pay raises.

CRITICS SAY PAY RAISES TOO SMALL, TOO LATE

The Association of Flight Attendants, part of the Communication Workers of America, in a statement on April 22 said, “Flight attendants make Delta record profits, get pocket change in return.”

It noted the new rate for flight attendants would top out at $79.80 per hour, and for all levels of experience still come under the rates offered by Southwest if a tentative agreement is approved by that airline’s flight attendants’ union TWU 556 this month. The vote lasts until today and Southwest’s new pay rates would take effect on May 1.

Among the major airlines, flight attendants at Delta are the only ones who are non-unionized. Past efforts failed. But since November 2019, hundreds of Delta flight attendants have sought to get AFA to represent them.

AFA represents almost 50,000 flight attendants at 19 airlines. It works within the AFL-CIO. But efforts to add Delta are ongoing.

AFA sees the Delta pay hikes as tactic to stall union formation.

In its statement on Monday, the union said, “Management knows we’re waking up to what we can achieve when we organize our union. They’re doing everything in their power to satisfy us with crumbs. But we know our worth.”

It said it would continue to organize for the right to negotiate what flight attendants believe they deserve.

“Record profits should mean record contracts,” the union said.