Minnesota State Wire

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) has launched a campaign to convince Delta Air Lines' flight attendants to join its union, but several news stories that have reported on the union's effort are part of NewsGuild, which is part the same umbrella union as AFA-CWA.

The COMMUNICATION WORKERS OF AMERICA (CWA) is one of the largest unions in the country and oversees both AFA-CWA and NewsGuild. NewsGuild-affiliated journalists have been cheering on the union's push for Delta flight attendants to join but they're not disclosing they are part of that union, critics say.

Delta has the largest group of non-union flight attendants in the country — approximately 25,000, CNBC reported. They have voted against joining a union on three occasions since 2002.

Delta released a statement regarding the campaign by the union, saying it would respect its flight attendants in their choice to unionize or not, according to the CNBC story.

“While we respect our flight attendants’ right to choose whether or not to support AFA representation, we feel that our direct partnership with Delta people plays a significant role in our award-winning culture and customer experience, including our ability to respond and implement quickly to our flight attendants’ ideas and feedback,” Delta said in a statement, CNBC reported.

The issue with the reporting is the lack of transparency given CNBC reporter Leslie Josephs' union is NewsGuild.

Earlier this month, the Minneapolis Review reported that one reporter for New York Magazine, Sarah Jones, was the first to write about the union's latest attempt to convince the flight attendants to join.

In Jones' story, she wrote of "unprecedented intimidation" that had caused the last attempt in 2010 to fail. She also alleged Delta bombarded its flight attendants with "inaccurate, anti-union talking points."

Both Jones and Josephs quoted AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson regarding the campaign, and they both discussed the criticism of Delta from the past union attempts.

Jones and Josephs were not the only NewsGuild journalists to write about CWA's latest campaign. Kristen Leigh Painter with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, also reported on the matter, yet, none of the three news stores included a disclosure regarding their being part of the NewsGuild.

"Delta, the only major U.S. airline whose flight attendants are not unionized, has a reputation for strong anti-union sentiment," Painter wrote for the Star-Tribune. "Less than 20% of its workforce is unionized, with the pilots being the only significantly sized work group that is the exception."

Some journalists, however, are making sure to disclose that information, which is imperative. Alexia Fernandez Campbell with the Center for Public Integrity discloses her union status in her news stories.

In one story, an editor's note says, "The author of this article is a member of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, which is affiliated with the COMMUNICATION WORKERS OF AMERICA, a member union of the AFL-CIO."

U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Mich.) did not return requests for comment regarding the ethical concerns surrounding the union.