After Announcement
The following is provided to give you an idea of what may happen following any merger announcement made by NWA. In the scenario described, Delta is used as the example merger partner. This is used for illustration purposes only.

Should Delta & Northwest officially announce a merger, the following things will likely happen:

  1. AFA/NW Flight Attendant representatives should meet with DL/NW Company representatives to be sure that DL/NW continues to enforce our current Agreement (including Section 1-merger protocol/labor protective provisions [LPPs]). AFA should be securing a successor document immediately from DL/NW stating they will abide by the NW Flight Attendant Agreement; especially Section 1 and our LPP language.
    Scope Information: Read more  
    Successorship Information: Read more
    LPP Information: Read more
    Update: As of April 14, 2008 Delta has already provided NWA with acknowledgement of receipt of the Successorship language and has also agreed to honor it. Read more
  2. AFA/NW Flight Attendant representatives should meet to discuss Fence and Trackage Agreements with DL/NW to protect NW flying from being flown on the DL side UNTIL a merged seniority list is issued by an arbitrator (there is no need for an arbitration if the DL Flight Attendant seniority committee and the NW Flight Attendant seniority committee reach an agreement which satisfies BOTH sides as to how the combined list should be integrated - however, this is a long shot). NW & DL Flight Attendants will select from their respective groups those that will represent them for the purpose of fair and equitable integration. How this process will work will depend on
    1. AFA - should they win the representational election
      -or-
    2. DL management - should AFA lose the election.
  3. AFA/NW Flight Attendant representatives should immediately request that all NW/DL Flight Attendants be trained on each other's equipment which is beneficial when a Trackage Agreement is reached. Trackage allows those routes which belonged to the carrier at the time of the merger to be flown by that group even if on each other's equipment. A NW/DL Flight Attendant cannot fly together until a merged list but we could fly each other's equipment on our own routes with DL/NW pilots. Remember it is the route that is protected, not the airplane.

Representation Election
Should AFA-CWA win the current representational election slated to conclude May 28, 2008, there is no need to conduct a representational election because of the merger of Delta and NWA as both Flight Attendant groups will be represented by the same union. However, should AFA-CWA not win the election, another representational election will be called.

  1. Anytime there is a merger it automatically triggers a representational election between the unions on both sides (as long as the NW Flight Attendants are at least 35% of the DL Flight Attendants; which is the case in this merger because Delta (DL) has approximately 13,400 Flight Attendants. Northwest (NW) has approximately 8,200 Flight Attendants.).
  2. No other union can enter this election; therefore, the vote would be for AFA representation or NO union representation.
  3. National Mediation Board (NMB) would compile the timeline of the election process, how the balloting will be conducted and verify both the NW/DL Flight Attendant lists as to who would be eligible to vote.

Representational Election Information: (read more) 

Possible scenarios following a representational election:
(this example is based upon AFA-CWA not winning the election slated to conclude May 28, 2008)

If the election results in a YES Vote, i.e., DL and NW Flight Attendants vote to have AFA as their union.

AFA is the union. Remember, the merger protocols mentioned above are still proceeding during the representational vote process.

  • AFA/NW/DL Flight Attendant representatives continue to meet with DL/NW Company representatives to continue discussions regarding Fence and Trackage Agreements (as mentioned above), running the two operations separately UNTIL there is an integrated seniority list, and the discussion that both sides will work under their existing contracts until there is an integrated seniority list.
  • AFA/NW Flight Attendant representatives meet to merge both the NW and DL contracts for all DL Flight Attendants (which now include the NW Flight Attendants). This process should take the best of both Agreements and combine them into ONE Agreement. Remember, both sides have good and bad things in their Agreement. We don't want to exclude any concept based on who has it. We need the BEST of BOTH.

If the election results in a NO Vote, i.e., DL and NW Flight Attendants vote no to having AFA as their union. There would be NO UNION

The process which started at the announcement of the merger (successor document/seniority integration by means of arbitration) will continue regardless of the outcome of the voting.

  • DL/NW Flight Attendant representatives on seniority committees will continue to try to reach an acceptable Agreement by both sides to integrate the two seniority lists. If these seniority committees do not reach an acceptable integration process there will still be an arbitration over this issue because of the NW FLight Attendants contractual LPPs and the LPPs DL gave the DL Flight Attendants prior to the merger. Time limits for this integration process will be dictated by DL management.
  • Also, the structure of the Fence and Trackage Agreements agreed to earlier in this process will determine if all Flight Attendants will be trained on each other's equipment right away or later. And will determine if DL will keep the NW Flight Attendants under the current contract and the DL Flight Attendants under their current working conditions until the seniority list is arbitrated. DL management could immediately eliminate the NW Flight Attendant contract and then all DL Flight Attendants (including the former NW Flight Attendants) would work under the current DL Flight Attendant working conditions.

Bottom line: We must do our best to work with the DL Flight Attendants - whether union or not - to educate them on our Agreement and us on theirs. This work must be done by level-headed individuals working for what is best for the whole group - not just for a few individuals. We need to combine the best of both the NW Contract and the DL working conditions to make DL shine in the industry. Both groups working together amiably could show DL management that they can merge both Agreements and make the best of both worlds.