Outstanding Chairman’s Letter
 

March 15, 2019
Fellow Delta pilots,

Last week, your MEC held its first Regular MEC Meeting of 2019 in Atlanta. We addressed more than 10 local council and MEC-generated resolutions, received reports from all MEC standing committees and heard presentations from a number of our committee chairs. In addition, the Delta MEC considered confirmations of the various committee chairs and elected NYC A320 Captain Chris Hazelton as our Pilot Director to the Delta Board of Director for a two-year term; Captain Hazelton's nomination to the Board is expected to be confirmed at its June board meeting. All in all, we completed a comprehensive agenda; your representatives remained focused on the task at hand and did a great job of representing your interests. Visit the Delta MEC website for a daily summary of the MEC's activities; committee reports and resolutions will be posted on the MEC Secretary's page.

Aeroméxico Stock Buyback
While in session, the MEC discussed two important developments related to stock buybacks. The first concerns Aeroméxico. Since 2011, Delta has been purchasing and increasing its number of shares in partner Aeroméxico. In 2017, Delta's equity stake reached 49%. Aeroméxico, much like Delta, has been participating in a stock buyback program, which has resulted in Delta now owning a nearly 51% stake of Aeroméxico. We are performing a thorough analysis on this development to ensure the Company is in full compliance with our PWA. I will keep the MEC and our pilot group informed of our findings as we learn more.

Delta Stock Repurchasing Program
The second stock buyback development concerns Delta. The Company continues to aggressively implement its own stock repurchase program, which I believe bodes well for our upcoming negotiations. Recently, the Company announced it had secured a $1 billion short-term loan to implement a much faster buyback schedule than originally planned.MEC Brief 19-03 has more details on this announcement. The idea that Delta executives would borrow such a sum of money just to burn it by repurchasing stock is surprising. If the Company is able to continue with these types of risky investments, the news is good for Delta pilots as there can be no valid reason to not fund meaningful enhancements to the value of our pay, retirement and insurance, scope and work rules.

Financial experts often disagree on the value of stock buybacks, but Delta's decision shows that the Company is flush with cash as we head into contract negotiations. Historically, the overall value of pilot compensation, work rules and benefits were higher than our current PWA at a time when the Company was less profitable than it is today. These recent events and the year-over-year financial success show that Delta should be fully prepared to restore the Delta pilot contract and recognize the value of our profession. The timing of these developments could not be any better for the Delta pilots.

Scope Violations
The MEC continues to closely monitor the Company's continual and growing number of egregious scope violations – now at 22 and counting – as outlined in a recent Chairman's Letter. Violations of our scope language are not a recent phenomenon. In fact, Delta has been out of compliance in some aspects of scope for several years now. I continue to meet with Delta executives to reiterate that the violations must stop. Agreements to ensure equitable growth must be reached to ensure there are opportunities for Delta pilots now and in the future.

At a bare minimum, our PWA requires that Delta must meet with ALPA to attempt to negotiate a production balance before a joint venture is finalized. This did not occur prior to Delta entering into its joint venture with Korean Air. We have had a couple of conceptual discussions on global balance ideas, and we are hopeful these discussions can lead to an agreement in the near future.

While it's disappointing that the Company will not meet until after a violation occurs, we remain committed to finding a solution that will end the continuing scope violations and protect Delta pilot jobs. I hope that the Company is equally committed to solving these violations and providing equitable growth for Delta pilots. To be clear: we will not continue to entertain reduced flying opportunities for Delta pilots or the lack of compliance with Section 1 of the PWA. As a former Delta CEO emphatically stated, "A contract is a contract."

In the very near future, I will be asking for your collective help to let the Company know where you stand on this degradation of flying for Delta pilots. Stay tuned for much more information, including an updated dalscope.org website with new information about Delta's scope violations and comparisons of Delta's widebody fleet versus those of our partner carriers.

Countdown to Section 6
Finally, we are just a few weeks away from contract openers and the beginning of our Section 6 negotiations process. Your MEC and Negotiating Committee are fully prepared to carry your priorities forward. We have completed a number of Special MEC Meetings dedicated solely to collating the input you have provided through a myriad of sources to craft an opener that meets your direction. We have an in-depth plan that will unfold soon, and I will be asking for your assistance to show unity behind your team as well as solidarity throughout the process. As the great football coach Vince Lombardi said, "People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society." If we work together, we will win together.


In Unity,


Ryan Schnitzler, Chairman
Delta Master Executive Council
______________

Our contract is not written in pencil. Our executives willful and repeated violation of our contract is unacceptable.

In the last 6 years our Pacific flying is down 17%. American is up 66% and United is up 34%.

Honor is something no man can give you and no man can take away.

It’s long past time for our executive management team to walk the walk. There are things like reroute and the AE process we would like to change, but we adhere to the contract. We fly the reroute that is far worse than what we bid at our seniority. We take the AE and miss once in a lifetime family events.

Jerry, what was your role at the BOD?

The only thing that could make me not like this Chairman’s Letter is the fact the GZSG posted it.

Monistat 7, was that kind? Let’s not let the yeast rise to these itchy, uncomfortable, infectious, micro aggression levels. It's the time of the month for an AE, as uncomfortable as it may be, let’s rejoice. There is always next month to be grumpy.

I was there to help Joe DePete double his retirement. Mission accomplished.

Can you post the block hours for each?

Non sequitur quotes are favored by those who refer to ALPA as a "blob", among other disparaging terms, then belly up to the bar at the ALPA BOD.

Huh? A pilot can get what they request...then be unhappy about it?

First World Problems.

Hard to belly up to the bar when I don’t drink.

The MEC chairman asked me to go. I said no. Then he asked again and I went. Long brutal days. ALPA National is a joke. A complete waste.

Zero talk or leadership on improving the retirement they lost for us through their lawyers complete incompetence. Zero talk of scope.

As usual you side with management 24/7.

Do you agree with our executives willfully and repeatedly violating our contract?

If Captain Kessler recaptured $7 million a year in incorrect non automated reroute pay, how many millions were missed by the pilots who assumed they were paid properly?

My guest $14 million annually. Two thirds have no idea they were shorted.

I think DALPA should do a 10 year look back and pay everyone.

You probably think these shorted Delta pilots deserve nothing because they are stupid.

Jerry Fielding

Sailing likes to tell us the horrors of other well-paying jobs. None that I know of ask their employees to risk skipping once-in-a-lifetime events (graduations, weddings, etc.) or completely bypass promotion. I appreciate your attempt to lower our expectations, but I refuse to yield total control of my annual schedule to simply continue along a normal career progression with this family at Delta. It won't be hard to take back small bits of schedule control if it's the will of our union to prioritize this particular QOL-enhancer.

A wise management team would recognize the value of some more short- and long-term schedule control...if they really want to reduce "unpredictable" and expensive sick leave use. Until they do...a dad/mom/husband/wife/son/daughter's gotta do what a dad/mom/husband/wife/son/daughter's gotta do. CPOs will tell you the same thing in whatever code is the approved code-of-the-moment, I'm told.

[QUOTE=Karnak;2783653]Can you post the block hours for each?

The numbers are available in the OAG.

If you have math issues, I’m sure the Scope chairman can confirm my numbers.

These MOAB every 11 months also result in 35 month freezes.

You forget there are many people on all of these big bids who are forced out of their seat whether they like it or not...

Don’t confuse him, he’s on a management roll.

We are just lucky to be here.

When you are parking 30 year old airframes that’s kind of inevitable regardless of the size of the bids.

Not applicable to the 717 forced movement. Also not applicable to people on "normal" fleets that get forced out due to people coming off the 88 above them onto their fleet. But keep trying though...

Yeah. So what? His point is still valid.

Denny

He seemed to be attributing it to the size of the bid.

Closing bases or retiring aircraft is the same in the end. People get displaced. The size of the bid is irrelevant.

Uh...we work in the airline industry. If you think that we have the right to show up on day one of our airline career, take a mental snapshot of the place and then say "yep, this is exactly how things will be 30 years from now"...you probably picked the wrong career.

There have been a lot of good points raised about some of the onerous provisions of the one-year AE, trying to mix in important family events with unknown training dates, etc. However, lamenting MDs as some sort of company hose-job is just petty. You might as well just complain "can you believe I have to spend 1/3 of my days on the road, sleeping in hotels?"

I've made no reference at all to the size of the bid. Sailing implied that people complaining about missing a major life event due to the complete crapshoot of when you go to training didn't have a legitimate gripe...

He said:

"Huh? A pilot can get what they request...then be unhappy about it?"

I agree that if you bid an AE or VD then under the current contract you are taking that roll of the dice. My only point was that there will be a lot of people on this bid who may be forced to miss major life events due to things completely out of their desire or control, coupled with the lack of very little control of when you go to training. This can happen under a huge big or a tiny bid, size is irrelevant. If they post an AE with 1 single displacement, that guy could still be screwed.

Simply stated, we need to look at ways to give us a little more control in this process under the next contract. Maybe it's shorter conversion windows, more frequent AE's, golden days/weeks, whatever. Just another area to seek improvement during negotiations.

Things are pretty good at DAL and getting better :), but the 12 month conversion is a turd. :eek: Like many other items in our PWA we can probably improve this and hopefully we will.


Scoop

I'm not lamenting MD's, please don't put words in my mouth, I sort of get how the industry works. I'm lamenting how this part of our contract lags pretty much every other airline out there. Even the regional airline contracts don't give their companies that much latitude to schedule training over such a long window with minimal schedule protections for the pilot.

I agree with you on the last bit. There has to be a better way. If nothing else a far more frequent and predictable AE process would mitigate a lot of the consternation. But the prior posts were more along the lines of "MDs are going to cause some issues out there with pilots' personal lives." Yes, but that shouldn't be a huge shock to folks working in this industry. Easy for me to say now, as a guy who has never been MD'd and likely won't (currently ATL 320A).

And yet you went, and spent our money.

I'm not related to anybody in management. How about you?

No. Don't agree with pilots violating it either. Do you? Are your ethics situational?

"Completely"?

I apologize if your expectations have been lowered by my reminders of reality.

I agree. I'd be interested in seeing where this particular issue ranks among the others. What do you think?

I didn't forget. I know the difference between an AE and an MD...hence the term "request".

Take note
 

SailingFud and Karnak will be here spreading all kinds of FUD and advocating us settling for less once section 6 negotiations begin...

It’s pretty obvious that it’s getting close to section 6 openers, isn’t it?

Yup, all the company tools are starting to show up once again to tell us how lucky we are to be here. Next, we’re going to hear the sky is falling and Greece is going to take the world economy down, and damn we need to hurry up and cave in to get a ‘deal’

“We have settle in a hurry with many concessions! There is going to be a recession in 2017!!! Look at this chart we made.”

Oh, wait.........

Do you know a pilot at Delta who has been required to miss a once in a lifetime event? I certainly don’t but I do know a bunch who had the company make accommodations so they could attend lifetime events including me.

I’m sick of the posturing and chest-thumping by this MEC’s staunchest supporters. Get meaningful, long-lasting results that are in the best interest of our pilot group or get out of the way. In other words, walk the walk.


GP

It would be nice to not have to rely on the “good graces” of the CPO to get once in a lifetime dates off. That being said, I have a GREAT! CP now but over my career that hasn’t always been the case. As an example when I was Atlanta based a lot of years ago (before we had JS privilege) and after my sister in law passed, I called up the ATL CPO to try and get authorized for the JS from SEA-ATL because the flight was pretty full. The answer I got was “She’s not a close enough relative.” Another time I’d been MD’d and my third child was due......Long story short, it was worse than pulling teeth to get the ATL CPO to swap 3 reserve days off for me (The need for the swap reared it’s ugly head after bidding). I still had the same amount of SC etc. I just needed to move the days off. I ended up telling him “I know you can do this, you just don’t want too.” Then I walked out of his office. He got me back in his office and did it but said not to tell anyone about it. WTF!?! That’s his J O B!

There should be some kind of preposted golden day like recurrent one a quarter so you can bid with confidence that you will get that day you need.

Denny

Just like the last (TA-1) group did? For the pilots to get anything close to what we want........it’s gonna take Unity that I haven’t seen here.........when either side has been leading the MEC. There shouldn’t be “sides” on the MEC.

Denny

I came onboard close to the tail end of the TA-1 debacle. So, from my perspective this MEC’s supporters seem far more desperate and vocal to the point that it’s becoming tiresome. That’s just my personal observation.

Unity - that should be everyone’s goal but we are nowhere close to that, I’m afraid. I don’t lay that at the feet of any particular faction within our group. The current MEC is the batter at the plate. If they don’t deliver on their posturing and rhetoric, it’s time for them to go. I will give them time to get a TA together. That’ll be their judgement day in my book.


GP

I gotta ask.....How much experience do you have being part of a union in Section 6 negotiations? With your screen name I’d guess you were/are exmilitary? To me, you are coming across as already impatient for a deal and we haven’t even entered negotiations yet let alone reached the amendable date! How much time will you give them? Better question is how much time will you give the company? EB has already said don’t expect a deal this year. I think you need to hold the company’s feet to the fire and back your union 100% in Section 6........no matter who is at the helm of the union. Without unity we are not going to be overly successful.

Denny

I have seen this posted a lot. I've only been around for 1 round of contract negotiations. Why wouldn't he say that? Our PWAs amendable date isn't until 31Dec, so isn't he just stating the obvious? Or has it been common in the past to get a contract signed before this date? Historically, when have negotiations started?

All I’ll say is I’ve got an all civilian background with well over a decade of 121 time all with ALPA carriers. This exasperation is directed towards the non-stop chest-pumping on social media about how great this MEC is. I haven’t seen a single thing happen to back up those claims.

I’m not impatient for a deal. As I’ve already stated, I’ll give this MEC the time that is required to get a TA as long as it doesn’t pit one subgroup of Delta pilots against another. Talk about lack of unity if that happens. If it isn’t a grand slam to match the rhetoric, I don’t see how they can hold on to power. I simply believe they are backing themselves into a corner with unnecessary hyperbole that could epically backfire if they can’t deliver further eroding faith in our union.



GP

The Railway Labor Act requires both parties to negotiate in good faith.

Our executives repeatedly violate our contract and now refuse to negotiate in good faith.

The rules don’t apply to them.

[QUOTE=GuardPolice;2784232]All I’ll say is I’ve got an all civilian background with well over a decade of 121 time all with ALPA carriers. This exasperation is directed towards the non-stop chest-pumping on social media about how great this MEC is. I haven’t seen a single thing happen to back up those claims.

I’m not impatient for a deal. As I’ve already stated, I’ll give this MEC the time that is required to get a TA as long as it doesn’t pit one subgroup of Delta pilots against another. Talk about lack of unity if that happens. If it isn’t a grand slam to match the rhetoric, I don’t see how they can hold on to power. I simply believe they are backing themselves into a corner with unnecessary hyperbole that could epically backfire if they can’t deliver further eroding faith in our union.

Go to one single day of an MEC meeting. Talk with all the reps and the 3 negotiators. Incredible people making huge sacrifices to further our profession.

Then come back here and share your take after meeting them.

The sad and pathetic old guard constantly spews nonsense to divide the group and help management.

I’m never asking you to believe a word I say, I’m asking you to meet the selfless leaders you are criticizing.