Of the “big three” US carriers, I find that Delta has by far the best employees. I imagine this is due to a combination of factors — they pay their employees well, their employees have a higher percentage profit sharing than other airlines, and Delta management creates a clear vision for the company that employees can get behind.

Along those lines, Delta has just made a very nice announcement for employees leading into the Labor Day weekend.

Delta has announced that employees will be getting a 4% pay raise as of October 1, 2019, and that they expect profit sharing will be even better than last year.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian sent the below letter to employees to make this announcement. In addition to the general positive news, I think this letter is beautifully written, and perfectly sums up the difference in the approach that Delta management takes vs. the approach of some other airlines.

Here’s the letter:

We’re heading into Labor Day weekend, the final days of a very busy summer. I want to thank every member of the Delta family for your incredible dedication and professionalism during the busiest travel season in Delta’s history. I want to share some good news about our investments in you and how we plan to support you even more in the time ahead. Despite the record passenger volumes, airport construction in key hubs and difficult weather, you delivered operational reliability this summer at a level our customers have come to expect and love about Delta. Because of the success you continue to create, I’m happy to announce a 2019 pay increase, effective October 1. In addition, we expect this year’s Profit Sharing Day will be even better than last year’s. As to the much-deserved pay increases, effective October 1, 2019: Ground and flight attendant scale employees worldwide will receive a 4 percent base pay increase at all steps of the pay scale, other than some international employees covered by an industry, government or collective bargaining agreement

Eligible merit employees worldwide will participate in a 4 percent merit pool While I’m proud of our success, I know that it’s been an intense year and a particularly long, hard summer. Maintaining our performance levels with record loads has put a strain on everyone and stressed our people and resources. Our dedication and stamina can only carry us so far. We know we pushed the operation and our teams harder than expected this summer. Just as important as your pay raise, we need to make additional investments to improve the tools and resources needed to deliver an even better product and service for our customers. We will be making needed investments to improve a range of areas, including staffing, catering, equipment — everything from wheelchairs to GSE — and front-line leadership development among others. Your divisional leaders will provide more details in the weeks ahead, but we want to continue hearing your feedback and ideas on what we can fix and investments that can be made. Please keep identifying those stress points that need to be addressed. And always remember that when it comes to safety, you are empowered to slow or stop the operation in order to protect yourself, your colleagues and our customers. Leading the Delta family as your CEO is a great honor, and I will always work to support you as we continue our journey together. Thank you for all you do and congratulations on all you have achieved.

There are a couple of interesting things to note:

I’m not sure that this is shade at American given their issues with mechanics, but I do find this statement to be interesting: “always remember that when it comes to safety, you are empowered to slow or stop the operation in order to protect yourself, your colleagues and our customers”

Delta has several non-unionized work groups, including their flight attendants and many of their ground agents, so clearly this is part of an overall attempt to keep employees happy and prevent them from unionizing, especially as Delta has been accused of suppressing unionization in recent months and years

Congrats to Delta employees!

(Tip of the hat to @xJonNYC)