Evette Avery worked part-time as a gate agent at Delta Airlines in Atlanta, Georgia, for seven years before she was fired in January 2019 for also holding down a job at UPS, where she’s worked for nearly 13 years and served as a union steward.

Avery says Delta had been aware of her second employer since she had first applied to the job, and that other employees work for UPS and similar companies, yet have not been fired. Instead Avery thinks there was another reason she was terminated: her union work.

“After I started wearing my union pin, passing out fliers, and being seen at organizing events, I was given an ultimatum to choose between my two places of employment. They claimed working for both was a conflict of interest,” Avery told the Guardian.

Avery has filed a complaint for wrongful termination with the National Mediation Board . A Delta spokesperson told the Guardian: “Ms Avery’s position on unionization had nothing to do with our decision to end her employment. She was terminated after refusing to comply with Delta’s conflict of interest policy.”

But a Guardian investigation has revealed workers at Delta have reported threats, intimidation and a barrage of anti-union sentiments from management as workers seek to form a union with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) .

Delta recently came under fire after anti-union flyers distributed to workers went viral. The flyers claimed workers could spend their $700 annual union dues on a video game system instead. The company also operates an anti-union website – ‘Don’t Risk it. Don’t Sign it.’ – in opposition to the effort to obtain union authorization card signatures from the 50% of the workforce required for a union election.

The IAM has filed charges for union busting against Delta Airlines in response to the fliers, and have received support from several elected officials and national unions.

In a statement Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, said: “The direct relationship we have with our employees is at the very core of our strong culture and it has enabled continuous investments in Delta people. Our employees have the best total compensation in the industry, including the most lucrative profit sharing program in the world. The IAM’s interference claims are completely baseless.”

But Delta workers seeking to unionize tell a different story.

“If you’re a union activist like I am, I’ve been spoken to by management, told not to wear the IAM pin which is in compliance with Delta’s uniform guidelines. I’ve been told that being a supporter of the union will be detrimental to my long-term career at Delta. I’ve been threatened with termination for my union activities. It is an oppressive, fear-driven culture,” said John Bryant, who has worked as a Delta ramp agent in Houston, Texas, for a year.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I’ve been told that being a supporter of the union will be detrimental to my long-term career at Delta,’ a worker says. Photograph: Courtesy of the IAM

“I have co-workers afraid of being seen talking to me in fear it could cost them their jobs if management decides they’re on the union side. ”

In 2015, Kip Hedges was fired from Delta as a baggage handler in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after serving in the position for 26 years, allegedly due to union organizing. “The machinists union filed a complaint for wrongful termination in federal court and we settled shortly after, ” Hedges said.

He’s involved in the current union organizing drive. “Workers who are pro-union are essentially under siege,” Hedges added. “We just want Delta to back off and allow Delta workers to exercise their rights so we can get a vote and settle the question.”

Delta workers described break rooms, bathrooms and daily group briefings as loaded with anti-union content from Delta. Televisions in break rooms play anti-union videos, in addition to posters and flyers containing anti-union material. New hires are given an anti-union briefing, though deemed voluntary, which workers noted new hires are under pressure to attend.

“Even though it is our federally protected right to unionize, fellow employees do not perceive it to be true because of the constant interference we receive at work,” said Jamie Grant, a Delta ramp agent in Salt Lake City, Utah. “As a personal experience, I have left a pro-union leaflet on my table and went to use the restroom, came back to it having been written on in black marker, ‘If you want a union, go work for Southwest or United!!’”

Delta’s social media policy has also been cited as concerning by the IAM, due to fears it could be used against workers for union advocacy.

“I was called into the manager’s office because I had posted something on my own time … on the Delta Workers Unite page. They use fear tactics on this campaign toward employees,” said Christopher Marlowe, a Delta ramp agent in Atlanta, Georgia.

Workers at Delta who support forming a union have cited reasons ranging from the need for an established grievance procedure, to better pay, to a path to full-time for some workers who do not receive healthcare benefits, and more accountability for management.

“Delta is very forward in the fact they try to paint unions as corrupt and they make it extremely clear that for flight attendants and ramp workers, a union is not welcome,” said Dan McCurdy, a Delta ramp agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

McCurdy is one of the union supporters at Delta working to collect signed union authorization cards. “There’s a fear they instill in people so they don’t want to talk about a union at work or sign a card at work, and if we go to their homes to ask to sign a card, they scream bloody murder that we’re harassing workers.”

Marty Knaeble, who has worked as a Delta ramp agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for over 20 years, added: “In my opinion, the anti-union flyers all over the workplace, the videos, the website, the manager briefings and other tactics all add up to interfering with our democratic right to achieve a vote on whether or not to choose a union.”