Delta pilots likely to OK pay deal
Delta pilots likely to OK pay deal -- reluctantly
Bank Rate Monitor
Russell Grantham and Kirsten Tagami
Cox News Service
ATLANTA -- The interim pay-cut deal between Delta Air Lines and its pilots union should gain reluctant ratification, a cross section of observers predicted Monday.
The airline and union leaders reached an agreement Sunday that will chop wage rates by 14 percent and end a bankruptcy-court battle over Delta's request to void its current pilot contract and impose terms.
It commits the two sides to more negotiations over a broader deal by March 1, however, and it calls for arbitration if talks don't succeed.
"I'm not absolutely certain the pilots will pass it, but I think the odds are probably very favorable. The wolf is at the throat, so to speak," said Les Hough, director of research at the Usery Center for the Workplace at Georgia State University. He thinks the pilots will prefer this agreement "over something even more draconian that the bankruptcy judge could mandate."
Ratification must be completed by Dec. 28, after which talks on a broader agreement will begin. Delta and the union will present the plan to Judge Prudence Beatty for her approval, which is expected.
Both the union and Delta gave ground in the interim deal. Delta had insisted on a 19 percent pay cut, while the union publicly offered 9 percent. Hough said Delta executives probably realized that a win in court would embitter pilots and risk operational problems.
Richard Henry, a Boeing 767 captain for Delta, predicted the airline's 6,000 pilots will ratify.
"It reflects the reality of our situation, of our current environment," said Henry, 48, who lives in suburban Atlanta with his wife and three children.
"This will make a total of 46 percent pay cut in the past 12 months," said Henry, an 18-year Delta veteran, but "this is just the beginning. They want work-rule changes and other things."
Pilots took a 32 percent pay cut about a year ago, in a deal that helped Delta avert a Chapter 11 filing then. But continuing losses and higher fuel prices sent it into bankruptcy proceedings in September and prompted requests for more pay cuts.
The Air Line Pilots Association is endorsing the deal and will hold pilot meetings to explain the terms. "There are a lot of positives," said ALPA spokesman John Culp.
Delta is the No. 3 U.S. carrier and one of the top carriers at Orlando International Airport.