Delta to Issue New Uniforms After Lawsuits Over Illnesses

Delta Air Lines, facing mounting pressure from employees who say their uniforms are making them sick, will issue an entirely new garment line for its flight attendants and airport customer service agents by late next year.

The Atlanta-based airline promises the new line will be better than the current uniforms, which have been in use for less than two years. The Zac Posen-designed garments were celebrated upon launch in May 2018, but many flight attendants, gate and ticket agents say they quickly began experiencing adverse health effects from the apparel.

Delta, the dominant carrier at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, has faced withering public criticism, lawsuits and workers’ compensation cases in recent months. Employees, who reported health issues ranging from hives to headaches to severe breathing problems, allege the company was not doing enough to help them find alternatives uniforms that didn’t make them sick.

As of November, about 3,000 flight attendants had formally reported adverse health effects attributed to the uniforms. That same month, the airline streamlined its uniform-complaint process, but it was too little too late for many flight attendants. A group of 536 workers, including dozens in Minnesota, filed a class-action lawsuit against Delta’s uniform manufacturer, Lands’ End of Dodgeville, Wis.

“In response to our employees, we’ve taken steps over the past few months to address feedback received about the uniform, including offering alternative garments, hiring fabric experts, and conducting comprehensive chemical testing,” Ekrem Dimbiloglu, director of Delta’s new uniform program, said in a statement. “This is a big decision, but we side with our people, and we are making a change.”

Delta says it will enlist the help of its employees through the design and testing phase for the new uniforms, and will look for more sustainable textile practices as well as “taking greater control of the production process,” the company announced Wednesday evening.

The new uniforms will be certified and labeled with the OEKO-TEX Standard 100 seal, the textile industry’s highest standard for chemical testing.

The current uniform line is worn by about 65,000 Delta workers — 35,000 of which are what’s called “above wing,” or those who interact directly with customers, like flight attendants and airport customer service agents.

Delta’s “below wing” workers, or those who work jobs primarily on the tarmac or behind the scenes at the airport, compose the remaining 30,000. Their garments were made of different materials and few complained of adverse health effects. The airline will introduce some new options for its below-wing workers, but it won’t swap out an entirely new line.

Until the new uniforms are ready, Delta is making a couple of basic OEKO-TEX Standard 100 Certified items available for all flight attendants who wish to get out of the current uniforms sooner.

Kristen Leigh Painter • 612-673-4767

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