Hey, Delta pilots. Quick question.
 

Delta Gentlemen and Women,

I hate to interrupt the party, but maybe not today or tomorrow, but sometime within the week, could you ask your reps what both sides last position was for the SLI?

Before you ask, remember what you thought the Northwest position was and what you think Deltas position was. Remember also that all you guys wanted was a fair relative seniority integration based on where we fall on the current seniority list. You also thought that NWA wanted to staple you to the bottom and that our side was demanding date of hire.

What I'm hearing now and what I've been hearing is that is not what your MEC was pushing.

So, what if your side was pushing for someone at 50% on the NWA list to fall to somewhere like 60% on the combined list? As in an '88 hire being junior to a '97 or '98 hire. Would that have been ok with you and what would you have expected our MEC to do?

All I'm asking you to do is find out. Thanks.

Respectfully,

New K Now

Will do. The last time I inquired about this the answer was DALPA's last position had everyone with .5% of their pre merger seniority and negotiators were perplexed as to the opposition.

Delta's last position had every pilot's relative seniority within 1/2% of their present relative seniority. That wasn't good enough, I guesss.

BTW, there's a lot of talk about NWA guys getting thrown under the bus. You guys need to consider the possibility that you were thrown under the bus by the senior guys within your own MEC (again). Those are the guys for whom relative seniority apparently wasn't good enough. I look forward to getting a look at what their last table position was. If you consider it unreasonable, you need to recall them.

Delta's position is well known. Straight down the line relative seniority.
Everybody kept their position on a percentage basis. The guy at 50% on the NWA list would be at 50% on the combined list.

Delta position was in print from the MEC chairman and posted here. It was a relative seniority position list. The opener not the final list had every pilot with 1/2 percent of his pre merger seniority. There were two extremes most rational people would have considered for openers. A ratio and DOH. Delta went with the ratio. NWA went with something from another universe. This is the rumor and my rep told me it was very close to factual. The first 1000 slots for NWA. 30 Delta pilots integrated by ratio into the next 1000 slots. A ratio after that with almost 2000 Delta pilots ending up on the bottom. I noticed in the NWA chairmans letter he made no attempt to explain his ratio system. The DALPA chairman did. Perhaps he did not want to address it because he knows he could not defend it.

Which is a non starter, just as date of hire would be a non starter for DAL. With the huge number of NWA pilot nearing retirement, relative seniority is a windfall to DAL pilots and harms NWA pilots. This is true whether they retire at 60 or 65.

Is arbitration now acceptable for DALALPA?

How exactly is/was relative seniority a windfall for dal? DOH would actually benefit me personally but I didn't think it was fair so I supported DALPA's position. Going to arbitration is lazy and is an abrogation of leadership. We can still get together and all benefit from the new carrier's strength. There is still time to get a joint contract and SLI before the deal is done. Your MEC seems to want to continue down its destructive path however. Get in the life boat and stop arranging the deck chairs.

So what are you complaining about? Theoretically, you are going to get credit for these retirements in arbitration, right? We are going down the path you wanted: the triggering of ALPA merger policy. You guys will sabotage the negotiations until arbitration is a must, and then a fair list will be decided by an arbitrator. Will you be willing to live with that list, or pull a USAir and sidestep that as well?

didn't you guys just push the nwa pilots out of the life boat considering you both had agreed upon a "joint" contract but because nwa didn't bend over for what "you" thought was fair in SLI you pushed them out and said start treading water...

I'm curious how delta felt about the usair/americawest seniority list?