Federal labor board takes another step toward flight attendant union vote at Delta Air Lines

Delta Air flight attendants closer to union vote

MINNEAPOLIS — A federal agency has taken another step toward a union vote for flight attendants at Delta Air Lines Inc.

Flight attendants who worked for Delta before it absorbed Northwest were nonunion. Their colleagues who came from Northwest are unionized. Delta bought Northwest in late 2008.

The National Mediation Board ruled on Monday that the two are operating as a single carrier. Flight attendants will trigger a union election if the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA can show interest from at least 35 percent of them. Delta has about 20,000 flight attendants, including more than 7,000 who came from Northwest.

The union has two weeks to show enough interest for an election.