Georgia Democrats Walk Tightrope as Delta Unionizing Heats Up

When a resounding majority of House Democrats publicly demanded that Delta Air Lines Inc. not interfere with efforts to organize its workers, it was the absences that were glaring.

Earlier this month, more than 140 lawmakers urged Delta in a letter to adopt a neutrality agreement that would essentially bar the company from saying anything to dissuade workers from unionizing—making a decisive stand on the side of organized labor.

But not a single Democrat from Georgia, where Delta has been headquartered since 1941, signed on to the Feb. 12 letter from the Congressional Labor Caucus, despite support from five Republicans in a similar letter two days later.

The Democratic absences included Rep. Nikema Williams, whose district covers both Delta’s corporate offices and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and Rep. Hank Johnson, who represents some of the city’s suburbs. Both are Labor Caucus members.

“I’ve taken a position of neutrality,” Johnson said in an interview on the proposed neutrality agreement. “Delta is trying to prevent unionization and unions are trying to organize. I’m a friend to both.”

Their reluctance underscores a dilemma for swing-state Democrats ahead of the 2024 election, caught between supporting the economic engines of their districts and maintaining loyalty to their union base. The tightrope act is becoming more intricate—especially in the South—as the party drifts left on social issues and unions make increasingly defiant demands to fix what they see as growing inequality.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in Georgia, where Democrats wrested back control of the US Senate in 2021 after flipping it blue in the presidential race for the first time since 1992. As the election heats up this year, the United Auto Workers, the Teamsters, and other unions have announced organizing efforts in the South, similarly hoping to break a decades-long losing streak.

But unions face a tough battle in these states, where workers and Democratic lawmakers are less familiar with federal labor law, which protects their right to organize.

“It’s like going uphill with roller skates on,” said Hasan Solomon, national political and legislative director for the International Association of Machinists, one of the unions trying to organize Delta. “It’s extremely difficult, but it’s not impossible.”

Neutral on Neutrality

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport was the world’s busiest airport in 2023 and is an economic powerhouse in the state, transporting 105 million people the same year, according to FlightGlobal. It serves as Delta’s main hub—responsible for nearly 75% of the passenger traffic—and is home to the carrier’s airplane maintenance and repair division, Delta TechOps.

Many of those workers live in Williams’ district, meaning she has to be especially careful about issues that affect the airline, she said.

“The airport is about 10 minutes from my house, and a lot of the workers who work at the airport and make it the world’s busiest and most efficient are my constituents, and they all deserve a voice at the table,” Williams said. “I want to make sure that I’m hearing from all parties and making a thoughtful decision on anything.”

Williams didn’t elaborate on why she refused to sign the Labor Caucus letter, but said she plans to send her own. “I support people’s right to join or not to join a union.”

While Delta’s pilots are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, more than 45,000 technicians, flight attendants, and other workers for the Atlanta-based carrier aren’t unionized, making it an outlier among its competitors. More than 80% of the workforce at American Airlines, United Airlines Inc., and Southwest Airlines Co. are represented by unions, compared to 20% at Delta.

“We firmly believe every employee has the right to choose or reject union representation without interference, and Delta has the right and responsibility to ensure its people can make their choice with an informed perspective,” Delta spokesman Anthony Black said in a statement. “All of this is done in full compliance with applicable labor law. Exercising their right to choose, Delta employees have repeatedly declined representation over the past 20 years in favor of maintaining our direct relationship.”

Black said the company welcomes a dialogue with these members of Congress.

Organizing Efforts

The Teamsters, as well as the Association of Flight Attendants and the Machinists, launched a major campaign to organize Delta workers in November 2022.

Workers have reported intimidation and reprisal for organizing, the lawmakers said in their letter. Delta has threatened employees with termination of their benefits and has been distributing anti-union literature, they said.

“If your manager tells you ‘I don’t think you should sign that union card,’ people are going to be nervous,” Solomon said. “We don’t think that’s a level playing field. We don’t think that’s level at all.”

Unions aren’t eager to criticize the Georgia Democrats, however. Those who didn’t sign the letter have still signaled support for the cause in other ways, Solomon added. “Nikema is a friend,” he said, adding that they had discussed a separate future letter.

And Rep. Sanford Bishop, a Democrat who represents southeast Georgia, sent his own letter to Delta Feb. 9 asking the company to respect workers’ rights, but stopped short of calling for a neutrality agreement.

Both Johnson and Williams said they haven’t seen any evidence of intimidation, echoing many Republicans and management-side advocates.

“Delta says that they will not try to intimidate, threaten and use false information to convince workers—I take them at their word,” Johnson said. “The company has the right to communicate with its workers, but it should be based on accurate information, without threat and without trickery.”

Bipartisan Affair

While unions didn’t lock down Georgia Democrats, they did get support from five Republicans, who urged Delta to adopt a neutrality agreement “with regard to any efforts by your employees to unionize, to meet with your employees to implement this agreement and to commit to negotiating in good faith if your employees do choose to form a union.”

It isn’t the first time unions have score support from GOP members of Congress.

Last summer, several House Republicans signed a letter supporting the Teamsters in their negotiation for a contract with the United Parcel Service. Some GOP senators also supported striking UAW workers at Detroit’s major automakers and stood with the United Steelworkers in their opposition to US Steel Corp.'s sale to the Japanese Nippon Steel Corp.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), who signed both letters, has been vocally pro-union throughout his congressional tenure, and co-sponsored unions’ marquee bill—the PRO Act—which would overhaul US labor laws.

Republican Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (Ore.) and Marc Molinaro (N.Y.), both of whom also signed the Teamsters letter, and Reps. Don Bacon (Neb.) and Mike Lawler (N.Y.) joined Fitzpatrick in the letter to Delta. All five represent swing districts where close races are expected in November.

And yet there is deep skepticism on the right toward neutrality agreements, which conservatives see as gag orders against management. Ultimately, they say neutrality agreements aren’t neutral at all, with unions getting an unfair advantage.

“If all you know is what the organizers tell you, you’re only going to hear good things about the union,” said Bradley Byrne, a former Republican congressman from Alabama and management-side attorney.

Even so, he said, unions are a hard sell at most Southern workplaces.

“It’s not in our DNA,” Byrne said.