IAM AIR TRANSPORT GENERAL VICE PRESIDENT CALLS ON JETBLUE CEO TO CEASE ILLEGAL UNION BUSTING BY VALUES COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR Air Transport Territory
Via email: [email protected] Joanna Geraghty Chief Executive Officer JetBlue Airways Ms. Geraghty, I am writing to advise you of some concerning things that are happening at JetBlue regarding JetBlue Ground Operations (GO) Crewmembers’ efforts to form a union. As you are likely aware, in the lead up to the 2023 union vote, JetBlue management dispatched “Values Committee” members around the JetBlue system to discourage GO Crewmembers from voting to form a union. The “Values Committee” members were paid by JetBlue to conduct these meetings, flew on JetBlue Airways aircraft to get to these meetings and were given hotel accommodations in cities that they traveled to. In other words, JetBlue management was pulling the strings and the “Values Committee” station-hopped to run JetBlue’s anti-union campaign. It appears, now, that JetBlue management is using the same playbook as last time. On March 13, 2025, during a “pocket session” at JFK Airport, Values Committee co-chair, Delanno White, lied to every GO Crewmemberswho attended that meeting by stating the following:
Moreover, during the week of March 6, 2025, Mr. White was reported as informing newly hired JFK-based JetBlue GO Crewmembers that they are “too new” to sign an election authorization card. Another outright lie. As you know, every JetBlue Ground Operations Crewmember has the right to sign a union election authorization card, regardless of when they started to work at JetBlue. Crewmembers can sign a card if they want the moment they are hired at JetBlue Airways. Ms. Geraghty, I realize that you were not the JetBlue CEO in 2023, and you were not directly responsible for dispatching Values Committee members to influence how GO Crewmembers voted in the 2023 election. The Railway Labor Act, the federal law which governs union organizing in the airline industry, states that “no carrier, its officers or agents (emphasis added) […] shall influence or coerce employees in an effort to induce them to join or remain or not to join or remain members of any labor organization…” I am respectfully requesting that you direct Values Committee members, who are agents of the carrier, to refrain from influencing GO Crewmembers from exercising their federal right to request that a union representation election be conducted by the National Mediation Board (NMB). I also ask that you correct the lies told by Mr. White via email to all JFK-based workers. Please also advise Mr. White of his legal status as a paid agent of management who does not work Ground Operations at JFK Airport and further advise him of what his responsibilities are under federal law regarding workers’ freedom to form a union free from interference, influence and coercion. I would very much appreciate constructive dialogue on these extremely concerning issues and I look forward to your response. Respectfully, Richie Johnsen IAM UNION, AIR TRANSPORT GENERAL VICE PRESIDENT Comments are closed.
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