"Failure Is Not An Option"

After nine days of what could charitably be described as "heated" talks between Delta Air Lines management and the pilots union before a three member federal arbitration panel, the two parties were firmly told Thursday to return to the bargaining table... and make nice, or else.

""Make no mistake: you both are responsible for this proceeding," board chairman Richard Bloch told both sides. "Time is of the essence and failure... is not an option."

As Aero-News has reported often since talks began last year, pilots have threatened to strike if Delta is allowed to toss out its existing contract with them, as is allowed under bankruptcy law. Delta management maintains without up to $325 million in cuts to pilot pay and benefits, the airline will collapse.

In recent days, both sides have hardened their stances before the panel considerably... leading Bloch, in a surprisingly passionate plea, to chastise both management and the pilots for letting negotiations deteriorate to the point that, without an agreement on pay cuts, the very future of Delta lays in doubt.

"This will be an abandonment of responsibility that will, and should, haunt all of you," Bloch told both parties Thursday, as reported by the Associated Press. "This is a shameful exercise by two groups who it appears have bargained successfully in fat times; but in hard times, the talk turns to nuclear options."

"You need to begin today, tonight... you need to get down to this privately now," Bloch said, adding that each side "has within its power the ability to destroy this company."

Delta CFO Edward Bastian said he expects negotiations will resume within a day or two.

"We're hoping to be able to get back to the table," Bastian told reporters after the hearing. "I would hope in the next few days we could start. We need to get this done... But it won't be easy."

The head of Delta's pilots union, Lee Moak, told the AP the airline is responsible for the delay in negotiations.

"The ball is in the company's court," Moak told reporters after Thursday's meeting. "It takes two parties to negotiate and they haven't negotiated to this point. We'll see if the panel's words can bring them to the table willing to negotiate in good faith."

It's important to note that unlike a court, the arbitration panel does not have the legal authority to order the two parties to resume negotiations. Bloch said Delta and the pilots should consider his statement -- which was agreed upon by the other two panel members -- as "an interim order of this arbitration panel."

Which means... get in handled, guys, before the US Bankruptcy Court makes a decision that, quite possibly, neither side will be able to live with.

FMI: www.delta.com, www.alpa.org