Delta Air Lines, which employs close to 1,000 individuals in South Florida and was Miami International Airport’s second busiest airline last year, is raising employees pay, the carrier said on Monday.

The 5% pay raise will cover more than 80,000 employees at the Atlanta-based carrier. The new minimum for hourly workers will be $19 an hour, up from $16.55 an hour. Both go into effect on June 1. The company will also allocate a 5% merit pool, a type of bonus, for eligible employees.

The pay bumps spurred criticism from a union representing 50,000 flight attendants at other major U.S. airlines — a labor group trying to organize Delta’s flight attendants. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said the increases were too small and meant to discourage employees from unionizing.

Delta’s corporate leadership touted the wage hikes and the airlines’ performance. In a letter to all Delta employees worldwide dated Apr. 22 and viewed by the Herald, Ed Bastian, chief executive officer of the company said, “the year is off to a strong start, and already you have achieved significant accomplishments.”

Off to a strong start

The carrier, which has grown its operation in South Florida in recent months, reported its largest first quarter profit since before the pandemic after earning $4.6 billion in profit in 2023. Executives who spoke on that earnings call said, “Delta is delivering the best operational reliability in our history, and we have widened the gap to our competitors.”

They added, “we anticipate continued strong momentum for our business, and in the June quarter, we expect to deliver record revenue.”

The company said this is the third straight year it has raised employees’ pay and the move comes after a profit-sharing initiative it unveiled in February with a total cost of $1.4 billion.

Delta has at least 500 employees at Miami International Airport and 400 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International and Palm Beach International airports, Alain Bellemare, Delta’s president of international service, said in an interview with the Herald last July. He said then they were planning to increase those numbers.

Delta has been growing at Miami International Airport, serving 3.3 million travelers last year. It concluded last year with 37 domestic flights out of MIA last year, an all-time high. That came after it received regulatory approval in 2022 of its partnership with LATAM Airlines Group.

Delta’s pay hikes are for non-union employees, including flight attendants, airport customer service, mechanics, reservation agents, and cargo workers. Many of them are paid hourly and will receive a 15% increase with the raising of the minimum wage rate.

By comparison, inflation in the United States was 3.4 % in the 12-month period from Dec. 2022 to Dec. 2023. In Miami, it rose 4.9% over the 12 months ending in Feb. 2024.

One group that is not covered by the raises is pilots, one of the only group of workers that belong to a union. Part of the Air Line Pilots Association, they obtained hefty 34% raises over four years in 2023 negotiations.

With that in mind, some flight attendants were not impressed with Delta’s latest announced pay raises.

Critics say pay raises too small, too late

The Association of Flight Attendants, part of the Communication Workers of America, in a statement on Apr. 22 said, “Flight attendants make Delta record profits, get pocket change in return.”

It noted the new rate for flight attendants would top out at $79.80 per hour, and for all levels of experience still come under the rates offered by Southwest if a tentative agreement is approved by that airline’s flight attendants’ union TWU 556 later this month. The vote lasts until April 24 and Southwest’s new pay rates would take effect on May 1.

Among the major airlines, flight attendants at Delta are the only ones who are non-unionized. Past efforts failed. But since November 2019, hundreds of Delta flight attendants have sought to get AFA to represent them.

AFA represents almost 50,000 flight attendants at 19 airlines including United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and Spirit Airlines. It works within the AFL-CIO. But efforts to add Delta are still ongoing.

So, AFA sees the pay hikes as sort of a diversionary tactic to stall union formation.

In its statement on Monday, the union said, “Management knows we’re waking up to what we can achieve when we organize our union. They’re doing everything in their power to satisfy us with crumbs. But we know our worth.”

It said it would continue to organize for the right to negotiate what flight attendants believe they deserve.

“Record profits should mean record contracts,” the union said.