A ban of all flag pins except for the US flag is now in effect at Delta Air Lines, but a flight attendant steering committee attempting to unionize colleagues has argued that Delta is caving to negative peer pressure and should revert to its longstanding policy allowing flight attendants to wear flag pins of their choice.
Delta Flight Attendants Sign Petition For Return Of Flag Pins
A small group of Delta flight attendants have chosen to wear Palestinian flag pins on their uniform. It isn’t clear if these flight attendants have worn these since the start of the war in Gaza or before. Nor is it clear if these flight attendants are Palestinian or speak Arabic. What is clear is that regardless of what the pin may mean to them, each one has stirred up tremendous controversy in light of the brutal attack by Hamas against Israel last October and subsequent war.
As always when I discuss this issue, I like to mention here that Hamas actually has its own flag that looks a bit more like the Saudi flag than the Palestinian flag.
In response to the understandable outrage, Delta chose to ban all pins except US flag pins as of July 15, 2024. That prompted a fiery response from a group of union organizers within Delta, as I outlined here.
The Delta AFA Steering Committee (the national representative body of Delta Flight Attendants attempting to unionize) lodged three demands:
Public Apology: Delta leadership must publicly apologize to the targeted crew members, confirm that pins representing the flags of different nations are allowed per policy, and denounce the moderator’s response. Leadership must further issue an unambiguous statement from Delta explicitly stating all employees deserve a safe and harassment-free work environment.
Protection for Crew Members: A public statement implementing the prohibition of non-consensual photography of crew members while on duty or in uniform.
Social Media Moderation: Immediate action to address shortcomings in its corporate social media moderation strategy, ensuring proper handling of sensitive situations and upholding company values.
Last week, I wrote that the AFA will turn any “tempest in a teapot” into a wedge issue to try to alienate flight attendants from management, so its actions are not surprising.
Kara Dupuis, a Delta flight attendant and union organizer, took issue with my characterization, telling me:
Hi Matthew, I’m a member of the Steering Committee that sent the open letter to our management and issued the petition, and a flight attendant for Delta. “AFA” the organization did not take advantage of this situation to try to widen the wedge. We, as employees, took issue with what we saw from our company on and their failure to condemn the harassment of our coworkers, and addressed it. Face it, with a union they would not have been able to arbitrarily make the subsequent decision to change this policy the way they did without consideration of the message it sends to crew members and passengers alike that who they are is offensive. We would have been involved and could have worked together to find a viable solution that values the diversity we bring to the table while protecting us.
Dupuis also put out a video along with a colleague that rues Delta’s decision to restrict a flight attendant’s “right to express ourselves.” Dupuis added, “By silencing workers and restricting expressions of our identity, Delta is betraying their own values and setting the stage for even more harassment and discrimination.”
Delta Flight Attendants:
Join thousands of us at https://t.co/W9AQh0rMJZ to petition Delta to retract their pin policy change and implement policies that actually protect us from harassment.
This is not just about a pin or a picture—it’s about defending our dignity. pic.twitter.com/554SXrQCat
— DeltaAFA (@DeltaAFA) July 15, 2024
Part of me is very sympathetic to Dupuis’ viewpoint. I do believe the answer to speech is more speech and that is the reason I am so permissive of a wide range of comments on Live And Let’s Fly. Just as it my choice to allow speech (not a constitutional right), so too could Detla choose to allow it via a more flexible display of flag pins.
Yes, it is troubling whenever the loudest voice is able to shut speech down. It’s not okay that any flight attendant should be threatened for wearing a pin…but it’s really no surprise in the America of 2024, is it?
Thus, we’re faced with the ideal vs. the actual reality…and the reality is that wearing a Palestinian flag pin may indeed endanger the safety of a flight attendant. More to Delta’s pecuniary concerns, it may also detract from the customer base (as we saw with Delta’s NRA controversy).
Finally, I wonder if the AFA truly does support allowing flight attendants “expressions of our identity” or if there are limits. What about a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag or upside US flag or an “Appeal To Heaven” (made famous by Mrs. Alito)?
Ok, those are flags are not nation states, but what about the “union” flag of Apartheid South Africa? Or the flag of Nazi Germany? Or the Confederate battle flag or “Bonnie Blue Flag” (not to be confused with the flag of Somalia).
What’s that? These are historic flags, not present flags. Ok, how about the flags of Russia, Mainland China, North Korea, and Iran…all in a row?
Flags may mean different things to different people, but some flags are inherently controversial.
This is tricky and saying you cannot wear an Israeli or Palestinian flag when the two countries are at war and a war of opinion divides a nation…well, I think it makes sense.
However, I still think my solution is something that both Delta and union organizers could agree on.
I love it when flight attendants wear flag pins to designate what languages they speak. But take Arabic, for example. There is no “Arabic” flag. Rather, there are dozens of nations in which Arabic is spoken and many have distinct dialects or nuances. If a flight attendant is from Gaza or the West Bank and speaks Arabic, I think a Palestinian flag pin is quite appropriate.
But this could be vetted and the flag etched onto the nametag issued by Delta…I think that is an appropriate long-term solution that would recognize the unique backgrounds of many Delta employees and also highlight what languages they speak.
CONCLUSION
I do appreciate the argument that giving into bullies should be avoided. But I think it is more than a few bullies who are outraged by the Palestinian flag and I think Delta’s initiative to take the heat off the issue makes sense from both a commercial perspective and from the perspective of protecting flight attendants from harm.
I’d still like to see flags designating languages spoken etched into nametags, but I think the union organizers are asking for a bit too much here in the world that we live in.
I am sorry but these FAs are free to work anywhere. Nobody is forcing them to work for Delta. That being the case, follow your company’s policies. Don’t like them, go work somewhere else. They want to wear flag pins of their choice. That can go many different ways since they interact with public and each of their customers will react differently to different pins. That’s why these companies have uniforms. And the FA agreed to wear them. Uniform means they should all look the same.
Morons wear moron-flag pins .
Also, let’s not miss what else the union is doing here—they are prohibiting of non-consensual photography of crew members while on duty or in uniform (I can’t tell if the reference to public statement means putting this policy in place or just announcing an existing policy — but my point stands either way). Even if you agree with flag pins, this rule would apply to any scenario under any circumstance as worded. Thus, no matter how bad a flight attendant is and no matter what they do (and even if they don’t have a pin on at all), filming them would seem like a sure way to get banned from Delta or have law enforcement called on you when you land. Ironically, the union wants “free speech” mandated for a private company while at the same time prohibiting the right to photograph in a public space (practically speaking). Also, given the way these things tend to go, I can surely imagine a flight attendant or perhaps law enforcement at the direction of the flight crew seizing or attempting to search phones.
Agreed. But that policy is a no-go and would be (and should be) ignored by guests.
I usually try to give sympathy to FAs but the demands added on top of allowing flag pins are a power trip.
It’s not harassment, in my opinion, in not allowing additions to a company’s uniform. Because DL is a company that offers a service to customers, they don’t want to have anything that alienates the customers. Unfortunately, some flags have political connotation associated with it and it’s clear that DL wants to avoid any controversy through this and actually protect FAs from harassment from customers.
Likely the Hamas-ian flag wearers are a small minority of retards .
As Santa said, you don’t like your employers rules, go work somewhere else. We are constantly told how poor the pay is, how bad the work conditions are along with other complaints.
Would the union be ok if someone wanted to fly the historically official flag of Germany from 1945? Didn’t think so.
Makes it easy to see why it’s mostly women and homos that take these jobs. Weak people too insecure to go find a job that would make them feel better about themselves. After all, isn’t that what’s most important to them and their “mental” health?
Ugh! The AFA is really starting to get on my nerves. They are *desperate* to get DL FAs to unionize, and are resorting to making a big deal about things as trivial as this. I want to preface by saying I’m a pretty pro-union guy. My issues don’t lie with unions as a whole, but specific organizations in particular, and the AFA is one of those I have issues with. They’re using so many resources (paid for by dues from their members) to try to unionize DL. And I have to ask why? In what way does unionizing DL benefit their members? The only reason I can think of is (and I have to preface here that I’m not as knowledgeable on this topic as I am on other subjects so if there’s a reason I’m not getting I welcome it in the comments) that the AFA doesn’t like seeing DL FAs get better pay and benefits without a union than their members, and worries their members might start to consider dumping them seeing the disparity. Though again, I’m not sure, perhaps there’s something I’m missing.
Can I also just mention how hypocritical the AFA is? Like when Delta puts out an advertisement campaign discouraging unionization, it’s “union busting,” but when the AFA puts out a campaign encouraging unionization, it’s… fine? Like DL FAs aren’t stupid. They know as soon as they loose the good faith between them and management, they can and should unionize. But that’s not soon enough for the AFA apparently, which is why this feels like widening the wedge.
The logic of the video is akin to the worst of political ads. “This is not just about a pin” is, though, likely true. It’s about confusing free speech with a business’s appearance to suggest the union is of value. Pro team uniform rules come to mind here. I want to were a patch to honor my late father or someother great (to me) person. They won’t let me. I see that as egregious. But, of course, I’d oppose another wearing a patch mourning the loss of [fill in someone evil]. And, I don’t see the inconsistency. I, in this example, am either quite entitled or low in logical ability.
You make a good point on consistency. So, if I could ask a Palestinian-flag-pin wearing FA, I would ask “should they allow confederate flags?” Where do you draw the line? The mere fact you can’t find one that isn’t self serving, makes an important point.
Why does the AFA – and some of their FAs, by extension – have such a hard time understanding the literal dictionary definition of “uniform”.
So what flag pin can I wear that a DL F/A is gonna have me thrown off a flight?
Delta has at-will employees. Too bad the flight attendants feel they are harassed by not being able to express their views at work. Boohoo. Start your own business and discover the freedom that comes with having a union dictating company policy.