The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT, or the Teamsters) has announced it wants to become the exclusive union representative of Delta mechanics and related employees. The Teamsters represents workers inside and outside the airline industry, including mechanics, customer service and ramp agents, stock clerks, dispatch personnel, flight attendants, and pilots at other carriers. 

Learn more about the benefits of working at Delta today, and the potential impact the Teamsters could have on our future.
 

What is an A-Card?

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What are Negotiations?

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What are Union Dues?

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Get to Know the Teamsters 

Learn about the Teamsters and its track record and what it means to sign an A-card.
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To call for a union election among Delta mechanics and related employees, at least 50% of employees in the workgroup must sign A-cards. The Teamsters can use your signed card to request an election for an entire year. Even if you change your mind, the union does not have to return your signed card.

Signing an A-card provides the Teamsters with your personal information. In the past, some unions have used that information to call, text, and even visit employees’ homes. Recently, Delta employees have reported receiving text messages and home visits from Teamsters representatives. Delta does not give out any employees’ home addresses or contact information. Union representatives may obtain personal information from peers or public records.  

Contract negotiations can take years to complete, and improvements are minimal while the process plays out. Just look at Teamsters’ track record at other airlines:

The direct relationship between leaders and employees has proven to be a faster, stronger, and more effective way to drive improvements at Delta.

  • During negotiations, there are usually thousands of individual items that are discussed – all of which are subject to give and take. Reaching an agreement on a contract means everything has to come together in one cohesive framework that works for employees, the union, and for the company. Increasing costs in one area may mean decreasing in another, and for any one item, the end result may be better, worse, or the same as what you have today.

  • After years of negotiations, 95% of eligible Sun Country flight attendants voted to reject a Teamsters contract with the airline in 2023, despite union assurances that it would significantly improve wages and working conditions. 

  • In 2018, 54% of UPS Teamsters members voted down a contract. The ratified contract failed to achieve workers’ objectives of a $15 minimum wage with catch-up raises, instead granting $13 with no catch-up raises. The contract also failed to address worker concerns related to excessive forced overtime, technological surveillance, and harassment by supervisors. Despite these concerns and members’ rejection, under the Constitution in place at the time, the Teamsters’ leadership overruled members and ratified the agreement.

Delta Invests in You

These are just a few examples of the way we care for Delta people.

Industry-Leading Total Compensation

Delta provides the best total compensation for mechanics at every step of the scale compared to our global competitors – including those with employees represented by Teamsters. Absent our COVID years, pay scale increases have taken place about every year, with 12 pay increases over the last 15 years. Compared to their peers at other airlines, Delta mechanics are also able to earn more sooner by reaching the top of the pay scale in 6.5 years – a year and half ahead of United and American employees.

 
 

Competitive Investments

Since the beginning of 2022, compensation for line AMTs is up 18% inclusive of line and license premium increases. We made significant investments in 2022 for AMTs, including increases in license premiums, and a line premium that is more than double that of our global peers at United and American. Furthermore, Delta’s retirement program consistently provides more benefit value than American and United’s plans (even when you factor in their pensions), assuming a 6% investment return pre-retirement, 5% post-retirement, and full matching contributions in respective 401(k) programs. We have also kept premiums flat for five consecutive years, and in 2022 we reduced the average plan premium by 14%.


Protecting Jobs

While thousands of union-represented airline employees were furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Delta committed to no involuntary furloughs – and we stayed true to this promise. We acted quickly to protect jobs and employees with voluntary leaves, attractive retirement/early out packages, COVID-19 pay protection, and paid leave for high-risk employees.

 
 


Planning for the Future

We’ve made strategic investments to ensure Delta provides dependable, high-paying jobs and reliable work for AMTs and other TechOps employees. Our successful MRO business, which provides maintenance and engineering services to third parties, offers more opportunities for our people outside of Delta’s day-to-day operations. We’ve invested heavily in enhancing our in-house maintenance capabilities and partnered with industry-leading manufacturers, so our people continue to work on the cutting edge of technology and the next generation of aircraft and engines.


Best-In-Class Profit Sharing

Delta’s 2022 profit sharing pool of $563 million was greater than the pool of all global peer airlines combined, with Delta AMTs receiving 5.57% while United paid .84% and American paid 1.3% to their mechanics. Since 2015, Delta has shared $7.3 billion in profit sharing, while United shared $2.6 billion and American shared $1 billion with their people. 

 
 


Shared Rewards

Delta also kept its Shared Rewards program fully intact throughout the pandemic while our global peers United and American suspended their programs in April 2020 – and have yet to reinstate them. We shared $2,575 for performance from April 2020 through 2022, compared to $0 at United and American.

Investing in Your Work Life


We listen to what will make the biggest impact on your work life and the operation and take action to invest and improve. In 2023, we have invested approximately $330 million in technology and equipment that make your work life better.