I agree.


It seems to me that even though the merger is pretty much done, the pilot groups are still feeling each other out. Sure, we have a seniority list, the same uniforms, and soon we will be flying in the same cockpits (can I say that now at Delta?) But, we as a group have not "gone to battle" together yet and we don't know how we will behave when that time comes.

I get the feeling that some South brothers are worried that we in the North will shut the airline down if we don't get the crew meals we want. (Pink Floyd in LAS)

And on the other side, some North guys worry that some of our South brothers are a little too sympathetic to the management cause and wouldn't strike if management insisted that we fuel the aircraft out of our own bank accounts.

I'm sure neither is the case and it is all just a matter of perception and us not knowing each other. It does appear that, in general, we have a different mindset. Most North guys are spring loaded to fight because of the long history of mistreatment and combative style relationship we had with management. (After the company saving bankruptcy contract in the early 90's, management fought us for a 3% snap back.) It's doesn't seem that the South guys have had the same type of relationship with management, so some of you seem to be willing to give management the benefit of the doubt in any and everything.


At this point, I don't know which way is warranted. Under this new DAL management, there are many things that have occured with the merger that have been great. (stepping in to stop displacements, hotel rooms for IROP's in base, ect). But, other things raise my eyebrow (required vaccines, fear of management retaliation for webboard postings, or as someone put it, "they can effect outcomes.")

I know a healthy and profitable Delta makes it more likely that we as employees with reap the benefits. But, management has a fiducuary duty to make DAL as profitable as possible. Because of that duty, their goals can never entirely be aligned with the goals of our pilot group. They dirverge somewhere around the point where we want that extra dollar for reparations and they want to keep it for investment.

One thing I can say is that during the SLI, while it looked to me like we up north in some ways were disjointed in our public opinions, South guys seemed to be 100% on the same page. So, in my mind, I can see where we will all be sreaming and hollering the same thing with the time comes. Or, at least I hope so. I really hope we continue to use this forum to understand each other. It can only help us in the long run.

New K