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Delta Does It Again!!!

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warbirdfinder

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 20, 2004
Posts
128
Mr. Grinstein and the Delta Board of Directors don't seem to be able to learn from "history". They certainly haven't learned from their mistakes in creating the SERP program for Leo Mullin, Michelle Burns, Fred Reid, and roughly 35 "special executives and lawyers". The company "retained" none of these worthless employees, while alienating 100% of the "rank and file" employees who actually make the airline run every day.
Now we get news that "SERP #2" has been created by the board. After tens of thousands of layoffs & two series of pay and benefit cuts by all employees, the company now needs to protect and retain, roughly 150 "special" executives. From what I hear, from Joe Kolshak on down, all Executive VPs, all Senior VPs, all VPs, and all Directors are included in this program.

Since an airline cannot fly without pilots, I propose that ALPA immediately demand a similar "severance package" for pilots. I would hope that the benevolent company would offer a similar severance package to all loyal Delta employees, because we cannot operate an airline without mechanics, without flight attendants, without customer service agents, etc.

This outrageous breach of trust, in the face of ALL that has been demanded and taken away, seems to prove that the BOD and management does NOT want to lead by example, and does NOT want the trust and support of line employees around the system.

Mr. Grinstein -- pull it down. Then FIRE all these greedy people who "need" this severance package. They have demonstrated their LACK of loyalty to Delta and to the line employees who have already sacrificed so much. We simply do NOT need executives willing to steal special benefits from the pockets of line employees.

I wonder how much of an additional pay cut will be requested in bankruptcy, in order to "pay" for this program.

Their comment is "the market" demands this type of severance program. HOGWASH. Perhaps it's time for the employee marketplace to demand a similar program. . . . .

Mr. Woolman must be rolling over in his grave.

This is a sad day, among many, in Delta's history.

John
************
Delta tries another executive "retention" program

By Evan Perez -- WSJ

Delta Air Lines plans to set up a severance plan that would benefit about 144 top executives as a means to keep its managerial ranks from thinning further while it pursues cost-cutting efforts, the company said.

Under the plan, qualifying executives would receive severance packages ranging from six months to 12 months of salary should their jobs be eliminated under Delta’s restructuring, or should there be a “change of control” at the company, such as in a merger.

Keeping top workers and executives has become a vexing problem for Delta since it filed for bankruptcy last September. The company says it is experiencing high attrition rates. The prospect of a severance plan for executives could run the risk of reigniting contention for Delta management, which has endured nearly three years of backlash over an executive-retention program that cost the company millions at a time when it was laying off workers and seeking union concessions.

The request to establish the severance program for executives came in a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York’s Southern District, which is overseeing the Atlanta carrier’s reorganization and must approve such plans.

Gerald Grinstein, Delta’s chief executive, and Jim Whitehurst, the company’s chief operating officer, won’t be among the upper-level and midlevel executives expected to participate in the program, a company spokesman said.

Delta is the nation’s the third-largest U.S. airline in terms of traffic. Other carriers that have filed for bankruptcy, notably United Airlines parent UAL Corp. and Northwest Airlines, have established programs that go further in trying to retain executives. In an internal memorandum circulated among Delta management, and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, company officials gingerly addressed possible questions that employees might ask supervisors. Delta officials said the severance plan “is not a new or enhanced benefit” and “the proposed plan is very conservative and at the low end of the range of competitive practices for airlines and other companies.”

Delta officials estimated that if 20% of officer- and director-level executives lost their jobs in continuing cutbacks, it would cost the company about $3 million, and as much as $15 million in the unlikely event that all the executives in the program were let go.

John Kennedy, a Delta spokesman, confirmed the contents of the memo and added that “any payments under this plan would come from Delta’s general assets” and not from a trust fund for disabled workers and survivors of former Delta workers, which Delta has tapped for severance payments in the past.

Separately, Delta’s pilots union told its members that it had presented a concessions proposal to the company but management’s response “consists of little more than their same overreaching demands.” The Air Line Pilots Association said it was activating its “strike center” as a preliminary step in case talks with the company don’t produce a deal by next month’s deadline. Delta has insisted on $325 million in wage givebacks from its pilots, who have agreed to less than half of that. Delta called the union’s action a normal part of the negotiating process and said that it doesn’t affect operations.
 
warbirdfinder said:
After tens of thousands of layoffs & two series of pay and benefit cuts by all employees, the company now needs to protect and retain, roughly 150 "special" executives. From what I hear, from Joe Kolshak on down, all Executive VPs, all Senior VPs, all VPs, and all Directors are included in this program.

Since an airline cannot fly without pilots, I propose that ALPA immediately demand a similar "severance package" for pilots.

Hi, it's Dave. I'm heartened to see that my good friends at Delta realize that in order to stay the course during these troubling times, we simply must retain our management expertise. We need to face reality, management has the education, training, and expertise thats needed, and that expertise demands top dollar.

It is true that an airline can fly without pilots, but history has shown that there will always be pilots who are willing to work for what we, in management, deem as a competitive, or living, wage. Pilots do not have the education, talent, or motivation to succeed in the real business world. They also don't possess the people skills required to be on the level of top management. That truly is the reality of today's industry.

Have a nice day!
 
6-12 months salary could well be necessary and it is hardly the kind of money that Mullin and his folks put aside.
 
Life is not fair, deal with it. Go get your MBA if you want all the perks of being in management. Most line pilots here have been down the road of getting sh1t on in this industry, so spare us your trail of tears.
 
Self Defense?

Hub of self-defense? More like hub of self destruction!
-------------------------------------------------------------

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The pilots' union at bankrupt Delta Air Lines Inc. (Other OTC:DALRQ.PK - News) on Wednesday said it would open a strike center in Atlanta as negotiations with the troubled airline for a new contract suffered a setback.
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In a separate move, the airline asked a U.S. bankruptcy court to allow it to introduce a plan worth about $15 million for its senior managers as part of its effort to stop them from leaving.
Delta's pilots' union said it would open the strike center on Thursday, which would act as the "hub of any self-defense operations."
"This response is an act of self-defense against a Delta management that seems intent on rejecting our contract," Lee Moak, chairman of the union, told pilots.
The airline has said it needs about $325 million in givebacks from pilots as part of its efforts to cut costs.
Delta spokeswoman Keyra Lynn Johnson said the union's move would not impact the carrier's operations or customer service.
"We continue to focus on reaching a comprehensive consensual agreement with (the union) in the best interests of both the pilots and the company," she said.
Atlanta-based Delta reached an interim agreement with its pilots in December and is scheduled to negotiate a final deal by March 1.
The No. 3 U.S. carrier, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September, has said it needs to raise $3 billion through cost savings and revenue increases to survive.
Moak told pilots that a contract proposal made by Delta during talks this week consisted of "little more than their same over-reaching demands, packaged with some minor cosmetic changes."
Meanwhile, Delta asked the court to let it introduce a severance package for its officers and director-level employees, according to documents filed late on Wednesday.
"Delta seeks only to reassure its officers and directors that, in the event of a qualifying termination of employment, they will receive some severance pay," the airline said in the filing.
The plan would cover about 140 senior managers who currently do not have such coverage and face the "instability and risks of job loss" due to the airline's bankruptcy, the carrier said.
"The severance plan provides some protection that is intended to reduce unwanted attrition," it said.
Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein and Chief Operating Officer Jim Whitehurst have opted not to participate in the plan, it said.
 
No ones going to strike. There are not enough Martyrs for this profession.

Live with it and move on. Also, realize that this is not a socialist country -- the corporation is there to make money -- that is the first and foremost goal -- which union folk tend to forget.

As Marx put it -- "Capitalism depends on a large unemployed labor force to keep wages low and profits high."
 

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