Delta Pilots to Stage 'Practice Strike'
Friday March 24, 4:09 pm ET By Harry R. Weber, AP Business Writer
Pilots Union at Delta Air Lines Encourages Rank-and-File Members to Stage Large Demonstration

ATLANTA (AP) -- The pilots union at Delta Air Lines Inc., locked in a battle with management over pay cuts, is encouraging rank-and-file members to stage a large demonstration next week that is being described as a "practice strike."

While full details have not been worked out, union spokeswoman Kelly Collins said in a memo to pilots Friday that the event will take place March 30 near Atlanta.

"Please participate in this opportunity to demonstrate our unity and show Delta management what will happen if they choose to reject our contract," Collins wrote.

In a telephone interview, Collins said a few hundred pilots are expected to gather for a demonstration, possibly picketing or a march through the airport, though what the exercise will entail has not yet been worked out.

The pilots also will get information on the communications that would be set up in the event of an actual strike, Collins said.

"They don't stop flying or anything like that," Collins said. "They volunteer to come. It won't interrupt service."

A Delta spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Nearly two weeks of arbitration hearings in Washington wrapped up Thursday. A three-member panel has until April 15 to decide on the company's request to throw out its contract with its 6,000 pilots so it can impose up to $325 million in long-term pay and benefit cuts.

The union has said it will strike if its contract is voided.

The panel urged both sides to come together to reach a deal on their own, saying its decision could be disastrous for the 77-year-old airline. Delta has maintained it will be forced out of business if its pilots strike.

As of Friday, however, there was no indication of exactly when the two sides would meet.

A strike authorization vote by rank-and-file pilots is scheduled to wrap up April 4. Such votes, if successful, typically give union leaders the right to set a strike date, but do not necessarily mean a strike is imminent.

Atlanta-based Delta, the nation's third-largest airline, filed for Chapter 11 protection from its creditors in New York on Sept. 14.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060324/delta_pilots.html?.v=3

As a negotiating tactic, I suppose a "practice strike" could have some effectiveness -- not in terms of instilling fear in Delta management, but as a device to get the pilots' viewpoint presented before the public. I'm sure there will be numerous TV interview opportunities.

I certainly wish Delta's pilots well. I hope the airline keeps flying and the pilots maintain a living wage, with benefits.

But again (and I know I sound like a broken record here), ultimately it's going to come down to fundamentals, and the most important fundamental for airlines is whether they can offer cheap fares and still be profitable. In order to do that, cost-cutting will not come in waves or phases -- it will continue to be an omnipresent, overshadowing, relentless fact of life. This means downward pressure on pilot compensation will not cease. The looming question for pilots (in the US, anyway) is "Can I reconcile myself to a salary roughly equivalent to a big-city policeman's?" Those who can answer "yes" to that question have a good chance at enjoying their flying career. Those who can't answer "yes" should either look for a new career or resign themselves to a flying career marked by bitterness. Sad, I know, and I wish it were otherwise... but that's the new landscape for airlines.

I've got a better idea. How about they stage a real strike. Delta pilots have taken a 47.5% pay cut since 2004. How can the company possibly want anymore. If they get cut too much, they will be the lowest paid on the legacy's, and I am afraid they will have an advantage that will lead to another round of cuts!!!

Delta pilots need to be on the ball on this one!

Here Here,

We don't want Delta surpassing USAirways as the lowest paid in the industry. Then our MEC would be under the gun to give away more of the store. As if they don't have enough practice at giving away to their partners er um I meant to management.

It is nice to see that someone in the industry has some balls.

One question I have for those of you who are represented by ALPA, how many of you are being encouraged to support and carry a picket sign for the Delta guys by your MEC? We have not heard a peep of support from the USAir MEC. Interesting eh??

Here here!