Originally Posted by Joel Payne

April 5, 2006



Dear Fellow Pilot,



I want to speak directly to the question of a strike in the event the Neutral Panel grants management’s motion to reject our long-standing Pilot Working Agreement (PWA). As I have said before, the PWA has served both Delta and the Delta pilots well for over 65 years.



I have recommended that the Delta pilots vote to authorize a strike and the strike ballot has been counted. Ninety-six percent of the eligible Delta pilots voted, and, of those, 95% voted “In Favor.” The mandate is overwhelmingly clear.
If our contract is rejected, the Delta pilots will strike.
I have informed the Neutral Panel of the likelihood of a strike—as ALPA did earlier in the Bankruptcy Court.
In consultation with our legal counsel, we believe that a strike by Delta pilots would be legal and should be non-enjoinable. Not surprisingly, Delta management and its legal counsel assert otherwise. There is little precedent under the Railway Labor Act, the governing federal law. However, under the National Labor Relations Act, the federal labor law covering virtually every industry other than railroads and airlines, the law is well established that a union may strike if a labor contract is rejected in bankruptcy.


We see no basis in law or policy to differentiate between the Railway Labor Act and the National Labor Relations Act with regard to contract rejection. Section 1113 of the Bankruptcy Code does provide a basis for overturning a negotiated agreement; it does not repeal the fundamental right to strike and the protection of that right under federal law.



ALPA remains focused on negotiating a consensual agreement. That is our first priority. But it takes two parties to negotiate, and, thus far, management remains stubbornly dug in on their overreaching demands for unacceptable further cuts in our wages, benefits and working conditions.



So, negotiate we will, but prepare for a strike we must, and we are doing so full bore. The Strike Preparedness Committee has done an extraordinary job, and pilots have responded enthusiastically and in record numbers.



Surely, no one wants a strike. Here’s what Delta’s CFO testified to the Neutral Panel at the end of his cross examination:



Mr. Simon (ALPA Counsel): Does the Company have a plan in place to deal with the eventuality of a pilot strike, if one should come to pass?



Mr. Bastian (Delta CFO): We do not.



Mr. Simon: Does Delta plan to operate in the event that there is a pilot strike?



Mr. Bastian: We do not.



Mr. Simon: No further questions.



Mr. Gallagher (Delta Counsel): No further questions. . .



But of course, there are further important questions. Many of these questions, for reasons I cannot fathom, still go unanswered.



We believe management arrived at their “demand number” with virtually no legitimate financial analysis whatsoever. Understanding this, why have they not revised, in any significant way, their September 2005 demand in light of the significant recent turn-around in Delta’s and the industry’s performance?
Now that management has finally come to terms with the inevitable after ducking it for months—that the pilots’ Defined Benefit Plan will be terminated—why are they not prepared to deal responsibly at the bargaining table with the devastation that it will cause to our careers and futures?
Why do I have to sign my name to a letter to Delta pilots asserting the right to strike—and asserting that a strike will occur—rather than to a consensual comprehensive agreement establishing responsible—but not reprehensible—pilot wages, benefits and working conditions?


No further questions.



Fraternally,



Lee Moak