As it was explianed to me, it is not the money involved in the sick time paid out. That is paid by a seperate account, and then reembursed by DAL each year. The number I heard for total sick time usage for the pilot group, is over 50 million a year. The real cost to the company, again as it was explained to me, was the cost of getting reserves to cover the rotation, and then not having reserves available for IROPS. As a result, those trips are getting covered by WS's and GS, which result in more money being spent than budgeted.

Of course, the response is who cares, but the reality is that DAL is totally bottom lime driven at this point in time. If exerting pressure of our group results in one less sick out per day, it will be deemed a success because, at the end of the day, it is less money they are paying out to anyone.

Whether or not we like the policy is really immaterial to a company that is trying to eek out as much profit as possible to appease Wall Street. Again, if you are sick you are sick. I use about 50 hrs a year, and I have small kids that bring every germ home. I call out sick when I am not safe to fly. I make that call and move on. If they want to call me, fine. I will answer the questions, but it will not change how I use my contractual sick time bank.