ATLANTA—Two Delta Airlines workers were killed and another grievously injured on Tuesday when a tire on a Boeing 757 plane exploded during maintenance at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport at the mile-wide Delta TechOps maintenance facility.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said it has opened an investigation, while Delta said it was “working with authorities.” The cause of the explosion has not been released, though the airline said the incident involved “wheel components that were being disassembled for maintenance.”
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) released a statement calling on authorities to “quickly launch a thorough investigation into how this happened,” while the Teamsters Airline Division said in an email to their membership that the tragedy “reminds us all about the serious nature of our work, and how quickly a job can transition from the routine to the dangerous.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 15 people die every day from a work-related injury in the United States. Each of their deaths have reverberating effects on their families and communities. With the maximum federal fine for an employer found liable for a worker’s death at just $16,131 and with only one OSHA inspector per 78,000 workers, unions are the most reliable vehicles for winning safety on the job.
The son of one of the slain workers, 58-year-old Mirko Marweg, said that he did not believe his father was dead and wanted to see his body. He was told that his father’s body was “unrecognizable,” however, identified only by his tattoos and a Mississippi State lanyard. Marweg had worked at Delta for 20 years, and family members said he was due to retire soon.
The other worker who was killed, 37-year-old Luis Aldarondo, was a father of three from Puerto Rico. The status of a third worker who was taken to the hospital with serious injuries remains unclear.
Marweg’s wife says that he worked in the painting shop. The Delta TechOps facility is the largest aviation maintenance shop in the country, with the company boasting that its facility is over a mile long. Some are asking why he was in the wheel and brake shop at the time of the incident.
The answer isn’t yet clear, but rumors suggest that the two men may have been on loan from the painting shop. A source from inside Delta TechOps told People’s World that base mechanics, such as painters, are “loaned out for line support quite often.” Management is tightly controlling information regarding the tragic incident and told workers “not to speculate” as to what might have happened. As a result, workers at the plant “get information [regarding the fatal incident] from news outlets for the most part.”
Another source exclusive to People’s World, who is both an aeronautical mechanic and union member, said that neither worker was likely given proper training for the job they were performing. The tragedy, they said, had “everything to do with the company not providing adequate training and throwing someone into the job, making them a hazard to themselves and others around them.
“You can be certain that Delta doesn’t want the details to come out, because it would be a horrible representation of the company failing to give complete proper safety training before throwing someone into that kind of very routine but extremely dangerous job,” they added.
As the largest airline in the world, Delta is the sole major U.S. airline without majority union representation. The pilots were organized by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) in 1934, but there are no unions representing the company’s flight attendants, fleet service workers, or mechanics. In total, only 20% of its 50,000 employees represented by a union.
A coalition of three trade unions—the Teamsters, Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), and IAM—have united to take on the company.
The AFA-CWA has an active organizing drive underway for Delta flight attendants. The Teamsters are organizing mechanics. IAM’s union campaign is building to organize 20,000 Delta Air Lines ramp, cargo, and tower workers. The effort to organize Delta workers was backed by the airline’s unionized pilots.
To compensate for the lack of union representation and retain talent, Delta pays above-market salaries to its mechanics. A union mechanic at United might start out at $74,000 per year, which is well below Delta’s $87,000 per year. The extra $13,000 is a powerful incentive to forgo a union, but it’s a small comfort to families if their loved ones are killed or injured because a union was kept from negotiating safe working conditions.
People’s World spoke with Joe Henry, former Assistant Director of Field Services and of Organizing for the Teamsters. “Clearly, this is why airline workers need unions. In negotiations, the union bargains on the rights of the workplace, training, how tasks are completed, and seniority. With unions, workers get the training that’s spelled out in the contract. Without unions, it’s just work as directed.”
In February, hundreds of members of Congress signed a letter asking Delta CEO Ed Bastian to sign a neutrality agreement ahead of the workers’ union vote. Delta workers have reported threats of consequences if they choose union representation.
“Workers at Delta Air Lines continue to face obstacles from Delta management, including anti-union messages, surveillance, and unfair treatment of union supporters,” Richie Johnsen, Air Transport Territory General Vice President of IAM, said.
“Delta workers deserve to be treated fairly and have a voice in their workplace. We continue to call on Delta to respect workers’ rights to organize and negotiate for a voice in the workplace.”
Delta Master Executive Council (MEC) chair Capt. Darren Hartmann, a member of ALPA, said that, “Delta management has historically fought off unionization efforts with platitudes of a corporate culture that fosters a ‘direct relationship’ with its workers.
“Frontline workers have a collective interest in supporting each other’s goals and helping address issues that we all face. There is truly strength in numbers,” he said.
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