January 19, 2011
DPA and Contract 2013
The Delta Pilot Working Agreement (PWA) is not amendable until December 31st, 2012, a full 710 days away from the date of this article. Considering no ALPA contract in recent memory has been signed on its amendable date, history suggests that this contract will also not be resolved any earlier this time around under the current representation. In fact, under the current representation, one could expect that we will not achieve a new contract for up to several years after the amendable date. Of course, this contract could be different, but history says it will not be.

From another angle, DPA wants to be ready to open 270 days prior to the amendable date as the PWA allows. This early opener can occur no earlier than April 2012. Our aggressive goal of completing the representation election by May 2011 allows for an extra 270 days to prepare for the opener. As you can clearly see, there is more than enough time to meet all of these benchmarks if we all do our part over the next several months.