Panel Delays Ruling On Contract
ANN REALTIME REPORTING 04.14.06 1215 EST: Talk about
down to the wire. Aero-News has learned a tentative agreement has
been reached on a new contract between Delta Air Lines, and its
pilots union -- less than 24 hours before a federal arbitration
panel was expected to rule if the bankrupt carrier could toss out
its existing contract with pilots, a move that almost certainly
would have resulted in a debilitating pilots strike.
The deal over pay and benefits cuts will next have to be
approved by a majority of the union's 5,930-strong membership, as
well as by the US Bankruptcy Court handling Delta's Chapter 11
case. No details of the agreement were released, according to USA
Today.
"I'm very pleased the parties have reached a tentative
agreement," the arbitration panel's chairman, Richard Bloch, told
The Associated Press.
As Aero-News has reported
extensively, the pilots union had threatened to strike
if its contract was thrown out by Delta in order to secure $325
million in annual pay and benefit cuts, upon a decision by the
federal arbitration panel. Some travelers, nervous about the
possibility of Delta's continued existence over the Easter holiday
weekend, had already booked travel on other carriers -- just in
case.
In a memo to pilots Friday, the chairman of the union's
executive committee, Lee Moak, said union leaders will meet next
week to discuss the deal, and determine then whether to recommend
it to the membership.
"We will not hurry," Moak said. "We will proceed in an unrushed,
methodical manner."
For the moment, however, it appears Delta will live to see at
least another week... but now comes the question of whether the
pilots union will agree to what almost certainly are severe cuts in
their pay and benefits. Of course, the alternative is to be out of
a job entirely, should the pilots decide to strike.
"I was a little worried last night that my last landing in Rome
was the last of my career," said Delta pilot Keith Rosenkranz, upon
hearing of the tentative agreement. "I think the Delta pilots have
always been willing to help the company in a time of need. We've
proven that repeatedly over the years."
"But there does come a point when you have to stand up for your
profession and the things that you negotiated in good faith,"
Rosencratz added, "and if the company is not willing to recognize
that then I'm not going to vote for something that continues to
take."