cessnapilot

Can any Delta pilot please help me to understand how or why:

1. there was a better offer on the table, benefiting nwa pilots and Delta pilots
2. only the seniority integration was not agreed upon.
3. nwa merger committee proposed arbitration
4. Delta MEC said no way…
5. signed there own deal with DAL management benefiting them
6. and then as part of that agreement, agreed to arbitration to settle seniority integration

why didn’t they take the better deal on the table before with the condition of arbitration?

I've heard a lot from Delta guys about what nwa merger wanted, and it sounds different than what nwa guys are hearing. I don't think this DOH, DOH, DOH that you are hearing is 100% accurate. In any case, it was clear the parties couldn't agree, and arbitration is where it was headed anyway.

Justdoinmyjob

Who says it was the Delta guys who walked away? Listening to the Delta MEC it was the NW guys who left. According to NW, it was the DL guys. Who's right and who's wrong? (This is a rhetorical question.) I feel both sides share the blame for not completing the deal. I guess in the long run we all better be ready for BOHICA.

Scoop

You are correct DOH was not their opener . NW wanted better than DOH to compensate for upcoming retirements. Which I think would be cool if we also counted airframe retirements. Oh wait, we would be one happy family when it came to parking aircraft but when it came to retirements we had to protect the "NW retirements." Sound fair to you?

Scoop

cessnapilot

So you are still avoiding the main question. If both parties couldn't agree, why was arbitration a deal breaker initially, but then later it was ok.... after leaving your alpa brothers behind?

DeadHead

Pick an important life-changing, career decision in your life that you are having difficulty deciding on.....
Ready,
Now since that career decision is so difficult for you to make, why not have someone else make that decision for you? With that decision being final.
Arbitration should be a last case scenario, it's the easy out and in no way guarantees that everyone gets a fair deal.

We haven't left our ALPA brother's behind, I wouldn't be so quick on making snap judgements like that. The contract is a foundation for an even better contract after an adequate SLI can be achieved.

Skywriting

Who told you it's going to arbitration?

sailingfun

The Joint contract that was reached between Delta, NWA and the company was only valid with a complete SLI done at the same time. It was a 3 way deal. We had to have agreements between management at both companies, a joint contract and the SLI list done. The Delta chairmans letter has been posted here that details what happened. The new contract was not valid if the SLI went to arbitration. Arbitration is a long process that can take 1 to 2 years. The company wanted a done deal upfront. They felt that being able to integrate the airlines quickly would give them advantages over other airlines that would translate into cash. They were willing to share that cash with the pilots. The company had in fact stated that absent all 3 items complete there would be no merger.
The company changed their mind on the merger. Some say fuel prices and some say they were going to do it all along. We will never know. The joint contract was long gone at this point. Dalpa's contract had several items in the scope section that would have made a merger expensive for Delta. Delta asked for waivers on those items. Mainly it dealt with Midwest Express, Total number of RJ's and restrictions on international code share hours. Dalpa agreed to those changes in exchange for higher raises then the old contract. 3.5% more in 09. This is a LOA not a new contract. Delta has pointed out from the day of the merger annoucement that a joint contract has to be negotiated with Delta and NWA. Delta has no legal or other ability to renegotiate the NWA working agreement. Can you imagine the screaming if we tried to change NWA's contract. That is up to the NWA pilots. No one has been left behind. In fact exactly the opposite has occurred. Dalpa has raised the bar for the joint contract and insured higher raises for everyone. If both sides get their act together LOA 19 should never ever take effect. We will all work under a new joint contract. The only thing any NWA pilot should be mad about on LOA 19 was that we did not get more.

One last thing to point out. In every prior Delta merger going back to Chicago and Southern the pilots were brought up to Delta pay over a period of years. Dalpa insistend and helped achieve immediate pay parity in the joint contract that did not go into effect. Hopefully we can achieve the same on the joint contract to come.

Skywriting

The reason this was restarted is because the investors and creditors insisted it happen. Don't paint Delta as the good guy, money is at the insistance of the investors and creditors and the deal will happen with or without the cooperation of Delta or Northwest pilots so board the train it's about to leave the station!

Pitts S2B

Feel free to post your source. Otherwise, you are makin this s**t up...

Scoop

You have bad information - The DAL pilot group does not want arbitration and will do everything short of rolling over for the NW guys to avoid it.
Scoop