Delta Pilots OK 14% Pay Cut in Union Deal — Decision ‘Provides Much Needed Financial Relief,’ Says Carrier
By Greg Bluestein Associated Press
ATLANTA – Delta Air Lines Inc. pilots voted on Wednesday to approve a 14 percent pay cut in a deal their union worked out with management to help the bankrupt carrier cope with an expected cash crunch.
About 58 percent of the members who voted approved the deal, which is the second double-digit pay cut the airline pilots have accepted in 13 months.
Delta and the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents the Atlanta-based company’s 6,000 pilots, will now try to hammer out a comprehensive agreement by March. If not, the sides have agreed to let the decision be made by a three-person arbitration panel.
Ultimately, 3,001 pilots voted to slash the average salary of rank-and-file pilots from $170,000 to about $146,000. The pilots also would give up other pilot pay and cost items equal to an additional 1 percent hourly wage reduction.
Before the two sides reached the tentative agreement, the union had threatened to call a strike if the pilot contract was thrown out.
The vote turned out an unusually high 86 percent of the group’s members, said Capt. John Culp, the union’s spokesman.
The pilots were also concerned that management had failed to outline a plan that showed how further sacrifices would ensure the airline’s future, he said.
Still, he said a majority of pilots approved the union-brokered deal because it bought them extra time to forge another agreement.
The agreement, which the airline said would save $143 million, adds to the $1 billion in annual concessions Delta pilots approved in a five-year deal reached in 2004. That deal included a 32.5 percent pay cut.
“Given the critical nature of our financial situation, this provides much needed financial relief while we seek to reach a comprehensive agreement with ALPA,” Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein said.
Delta, which has lost more than $11 billion and cut more than 20,000 jobs over the last five years, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York Sept. 14. Last week, it asked the court for a six-month extension to exclusively file its reorganization plan, due Jan. 12.