A major union is trying again to win the right to represent flight attendants at mostly non-union Delta. The Association of Flight Attendants announced Friday it will try to organize 25,000 workers at Delta. The union narrowly lost a 2010 election at Delta after failed organising bids in 2002 and 2008. The decision drew a quick protest from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which is has been trying for several years to organise Delta crews. Among the largest US airlines, only Delta has non-union flight attendants. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say Delta cabin crews earn less than counterparts at the other three biggest airlines, and Delta's non-cockpit employees get less in pensions and benefits. Delta issued a statement that highlighted all the unsuccessful union campaigns in the past. The airline said it respects employees' right to decide on union representation but that "our direct partnership with Delta people" helps the airline's culture and lets it respond quickly to flight attendants' ideas. Delta pilots belong to the Air Line Pilots Association, but only 19% of Delta's 89,000 full-time employees are represented by a union. That is far lower than American, United or Southwest, and it has made Atlanta-based Delta a target for organised labour.<br/>
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The airline Delta has said it will start showing fuller versions of the films Booksmart and Rocketman that were controversially edited to remove scenes involving LGBTQ love and sexuality. “We are working to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” a spokeswoman said. Delta faced criticism after it emerged it was showing films with edits that seemingly targeted gay and lesbian sexuality. The actor Olivia Wilde said a version of the movie Booksmart, which she directed, omitted a lesbian sex scene, a female masturbation scene, the words “vagina” and “genitals” and an animated sequence in which the two main characters turn into naked dolls. She also pointed out that the word “fuck” was not cut from the scene in which “vagina” was muted. “What message is this sending to viewers and especially to women?” Wilde wrote on Twitter. “That their bodies are obscene? That their sexuality is shameful?” Delta previously attracted opprobrium for showing a version of Rocketman, the Elton John biopic starring Tarron Egerton, which removed any reference to the musician’s sexual orientation. The airline said the edits were made, unrequested, by a third-party vendor, with Delta picking the version for in-flight viewing. It said it has now put in place new measures to ensure the movies do not omit the LGBTQ scenes.<br/>