ITF backs Delta Airlines strike workers

February 8, 2013

The  ITF has sent a message of support to call centre workers at Delta Airlines in Chile who are on strike over the company’s refusal to honour a promise to reinstate former working conditions.

Some 120 workers were hired to establish a call centre in Santiago in 2001. When the company entered bankruptcy in 2006 it asked them to temporarily accept a wage cut and give up some of their terms and conditions, such as free health insurance. Workers agreed for the sake of the survival of Delta Airlines.

The company then refused to reinstate the working conditions and began practices which undermine the dignity and labour rights of the employees. These include constant monitoring of emails and surveillance by cameras, verbal abuse by local managers and severe limitations on bathroom breaks and breastfeeding of newborn infants. Since 60 workers decided to form a union in August 2012 the situation has worsened, so they began their strike on 18 December 2012.

The new union, the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Delta Airlines de Chile (SINADAL), has the support of eight national parliament members, the national ITUC affiliate the Workers’ United Centre of Chile (CUT) and other aviation unions in Chile. However, negotiations with the company’s US managers have been unsuccessful.

ITF head of civil aviation and tourism Gabriel Mocho said: “These workers made great sacrifices for Delta Airlines and have been betrayed and then abused by the company, which has seen astronomical profits in the last two years. Their persistence is really courageous in a country that is currently not very favourable to labour rights. The ITF will continue to back their cause and has asked for support from other ITF affiliates in the region.”
 
A video from the first day of the strike can be seen in English and another one can be seen in Spanish.