Delta pilots authorize strike

[General Lee]

5799 eligible voters. (others on military leave or personal leaves) (furloughed pilots not allowed to vote either, unfortunately)

5590 voted. (96.4%)

5295 voted in Favor of Strike if needed. (94.72%)



Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Blucher]

Good luck to all the real employees at Delta (aka: everyone except the transients they call "management"). As much as the situation sucks, y'all are doing the right thing by sticking to your guns. I just pray that management sees the error of their ways before yet another great carrier has to die in ATL.

-Blucher:angryfire

 

[Rip Vanwinkle]

Go get em.

 

[General Lee]

Good luck to all the real employees at Delta (aka: everyone except the transients they call "management"). As much as the situation sucks, y'all are doing the right thing by sticking to your guns. I just pray that management sees the error of their ways before yet another great carrier has to die in ATL.

-Blucher:angryfire

Thanks for the good wishes. I can't see management and the creditors (who are incharge) giving up on the huge upside potential of a new stock issuance. UAL management got 8% of their new stock and it is now at $40 or so a share. The creditors got even more. I think this may force management to recognize that they need to negotiate. The negative press could hurt some future bookings too, especially in ATL. But, we did show them that we are not rolling over, nope.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Ty Webb]

Yawn, These guys wont strike. Nope!

Ahh, another nutless newbie with one post to his new screen name weighs in.


Congratulations to the pilot group at DAL . . . very strong. I think the General is correct. The pilots have given enough as it is . . . they are going to have to actually "manage" their way out of this mess, if they want their bloated stock options.



.

 

[UpNDownGuy]

Maybe General Lee can answer this one. Has there been any discussions about accepting some concessions if management will accept a cap on their compensation? After UA, I know I wouldn't trust any management to do the right thing with any money I gave them. I can't fault the Delta pilots at all for taking a strike vote.

 

[doh]

Go get 'em General. I'll gladly pay the asessment for that!

 

[Smoking Man]

94.72% Bluff.


No strike, If the chicken dies there are no more eggs.

 

[800Dog]

94.72% Bluff.


No strike, If the chicken dies there are no more eggs.

I will find another chicken.

 

[av8n]

But, we did show them that we are not rolling over, nope.


You have got to be kidding me. 94% voted for a strike. The numbers should
have been between 98% - 100% for a strike. 295 guys voted AGAINST a
strike. Pathetic.


In the end, we are going to "take it in the a$$."

There are several possibilities.

1. There will be a 11th hour negiotiation session. The MEC will forward the
pilot group some horrendous piece of cr@p work agreement. The
pilot group will vote for it because the lack of testicles.

2. The company will threaten to the sue the MEC. The MEC, remembering
a bitter taste in their mouth the last time the company sued them --
tells us to go back to work so that we can "fight another day."
(sarcasm intended)

3. George Bush tells to go back to work. He can't throw the whole pilot
group in jail -- theatens to throw the MEC in jail. Since the MEC is
terrified of the thought of jail time - they tell us to go back to work.

The writing is on the wall. It isn't pretty.

 

["GO AROUND"]

Threaten to sue or throw them in jail?!?! WTFO? With or without a contract not even Bush can make the DAL pilots go to work. There is nothing illegal about not going to work at a company that you are an "at will employee". Pull your head out! DAL is not the military where the pilots will be AWOL. Sheesh!

Good luck to all at DAL.

 

[Lollie]

I have a question, could it be possible that Delta wouldn't be able to stay afloat at all even if they conceeded to the amount the pilots were willing to agree to. Could Delta Mgt. be in a double bind?

Lollie(No I'm not a pilot and my spouse is)

 

[General Lee]

Maybe General Lee can answer this one. Has there been any discussions about accepting some concessions if management will accept a cap on their compensation? After UA, I know I wouldn't trust any management to do the right thing with any money I gave them. I can't fault the Delta pilots at all for taking a strike vote.

Many mangement people have taken some cuts, even Grinstein (who hired Leo Mullin in the first place) only makes $250,000 a year. (but he is worth mega millions) The problem is the new stock that will be issued. Look at UAL. The management there got 8% of the stock. How much is that worth? All of our management can take a 100% pay cut now, but then be awarded MILLIONS after we have a contract. That will happen. Grinstein will leave with more millions for sure.

The reason we took a strike vote was to make Management and the Arbitrators see what COULD happen if the THROW OUT THE CONTRACT. Without a contract, we have no merger protection, no fragmentation protection, no scope, no seniority list even. Why keep flying if that happens? We won't. That is the reason we would strike. It really makes sense if you think about it.

So, with this strike authorization, we now put a little more pressure on management AND the arbitrators. That is the key.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[General Lee]

I have a question, could it be possible that Delta wouldn't be able to stay afloat at all even if they conceeded to the amount the pilots were willing to agree to. Could Delta Mgt. be in a double bind?

Lollie(No I'm not a pilot and my spouse is)

No way. This company is making $3 billion a year in cost cuts, we are dumping the pilot pensions (which our witness said will save them $1.6 billion or $400 million a year for 4 years), we made a "surprise" $400 million extra last year (not expected), and we had $25 million operating profits for Jan and Feb. Our Cash on hand has gone up $200 million, to $2.2 billion Unrestricted cash available. Indy Air is gone, thus taking away the largest hurdle to yeild increases on the East Coast. Southwest and Jetblue also increased their fares, helping us as well. We have hedged a small amount of fuel as of late, helping out a bit. Our busiest season is coming up, and our INTL revenue is bound to increase, and no LCCs on INTL routes. Are they going to pull the plug over a $190 million difference? I doubt it. AMEX has 25 million skymiles members, and GE owns a lot of our mainline planes and RJs. Even Airtran said they doubt we would go away, citing GE as a creditor that wouldn't allow it to happen.

But, you need to stand up and say NO MORE sometimes, and we don't have illusions of keeping our pensions like NW does. Nope. We have other needs and they will be addressed.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[General Lee]

But, we did show them that we are not rolling over, nope.


You have got to be kidding me. 94% voted for a strike. The numbers should
have been between 98% - 100% for a strike. 295 guys voted AGAINST a
strike. Pathetic.


In the end, we are going to "take it in the a$$."

There are several possibilities.

1. There will be a 11th hour negiotiation session. The MEC will forward the
pilot group some horrendous piece of cr@p work agreement. The
pilot group will vote for it because the lack of testicles.

2. The company will threaten to the sue the MEC. The MEC, remembering
a bitter taste in their mouth the last time the company sued them --
tells us to go back to work so that we can "fight another day."
(sarcasm intended)

3. George Bush tells to go back to work. He can't throw the whole pilot
group in jail -- theatens to throw the MEC in jail. Since the MEC is
terrified of the thought of jail time - they tell us to go back to work.

The writing is on the wall. It isn't pretty.

Wait a minute, you don't know what happened to a lot of the voters. One guy I know wasn't elligible to vote because he was late on his merger assesment, and thus couldn't vote at all. Many people had the same problem, I bet. And, people on Military Leave couldn't vote either, which doesn't mean they wouldn't have voted YES.

WE WILL NOT "take it in the A$$." Nope. We, as a group, are more mad than ever, and I doubt we will take a lousy TA. Nope. 2300 of the loyalists are GONE now, they would have voted for anything. I doubt any FO and half the Captains would vote to allow larger RJs that could replace them. Nope.

Can the company SUE the MEC? No. If they take away the contract, we have no obligation to work at all. And George Bush could try to throw in an injunction, but it wouldn't last long. You cannot force people to work without a contract.

Did you know that we have 250 Captains over 55 years old? They are probably the guys who voted NO. They are kicking themselves in the butt for NOT leaving when they could, and now they really have nowhere to go. Also, management pilots probably voted that way too to make sure they stay management. I would say almost 95% voting YES to authorize a strike is pretty dam good, especially with this group. I think most of us are tired of being walked all over. You should know that.

The writing is on the wall, and it is WE WON'T WORK IF THE CONTRACT IS THROWN OUT. And, any crappy TA will most certainly be voted DOWN, especially with more pay cuts, no pension credit, and scope gaps.

EXTRA SCOPE EQUALS A BIG NOPE.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[atlcrashpad]

General,
Good luck. Don't blink on this or MGT will stick it to you forever. Once you've given up something and give again, MGT smells the BLOOD in the water.

 

[densoo]

This made the network national news tonight (NBC). A short piece but it was generally sympathetic to the pilots.

 

[General Lee]

General,
Good luck. Don't blink on this or MGT will stick it to you forever. Once you've given up something and give again, MGT smells the BLOOD in the water.

I know. We won't blink, and I won't vote YES for a P.O.S. TA. Nope.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[General Lee]

This made the network national news tonight (NBC). A short piece but it was generally sympathetic to the pilots.

Bad publicity is bad for the company. It is coming up on our best flying season, and the company will lose more if they don't start negotiating.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[buckeyes95]

delta

It's about time a pilot group stood up and said enough is enough! This profession has been under attack for many years, reducing our wages, benefits, and quality of life. I'm glad the Delta guys and gals are standing there ground. Why should the employees pay for poor management, again and again. Good luck to everyone at Delta, in solidarity.

 

[800Dog]

It's about time a pilot group stood up and said enough is enough! This profession has been under attack for many years, reducing our wages, benefits, and quality of life. I'm glad the Delta guys and gals are standing there ground. Why should the employees pay for poor management, again and again. Good luck to everyone at Delta, in solidarity.

Gracias Buckeyes. We need to stand together as pilots and fight for the best pay and benefits we can get. When one pilot group takes it in the rear it has an impact on all of us. Hopefully the ASA and NWA folks will fight the good fight and the American folks will as well in the next couple of years. Enough is enough!

 

[KigAir]

Any idea how soon the strike may happen? I have tickets for a flight on 4/16.

 

[Fins Up]

Any idea how soon the strike may happen? I have tickets for a flight on 4/16.

It sure would be a shame if a strike affecting thousands of pilots, FA's, and others affects your vacation plans.

 

[lowecur]

Good luck GL

Those Wall St Bankers will blink first. Too much money to be lost if DL goes south.

imp:

 

[KigAir]

It sure would be a shame if a strike affecting thousands of pilots, FA's, and others affects your vacation plans.

Well actually this is trip is work related and I try to lookout for the well being of my employer sometimes.

 

[SLCPilot]

It sure would be a shame if a strike affecting thousands of pilots, FA's, and others affects your vacation plans.

It sure would be a shame if a strike affecting thousands of pilots etc. effects the travel plans of HUNDREDS of thousands of Delta Airline passengers.

I have been a [SIZE=-1]Medallion member for over three years, and will no longer be booking flights on Delta even though it means making a connection and sitting in the back.

Why should I as a loyal Delta customer put myself in the middle of this high stake game of chicken between the Pilots and Management????


[/SIZE]

 

[Smoking Man]

I will find another chicken.

I am sure that there is a large number of guys that would burn down the house on princple alone, but to find 50.1% not likely. Anyway you might want to check what jobs pay this day and age, not to many 85K+ a year jobs out there.

 

[FDJ2]

[SIZE=-1]
Why should I as a loyal Delta customer put myself in the middle of this high stake game of chicken between the Pilots and Management????
[/SIZE]

You shouldn't, too bad management saw fit to file an 1113 motion even though they have $400M more in cash then they planned on. Book away and be happy.

 

[msmb]

I wish all the Delta pilots the best. At some point someone needs to stand up and take a stand against management. Until someone (or some group) does, they will just keep taking and taking. It doesn't matter what a Delta pilot makes vs. a pilot somewhere else. These are wages that were negotiated fair and square. Yes, they were very highly paid and still make decent money, but if this keeps up, eventually the McDonalds managers working at the airport will be making more than a 737 f/o. Taking money from the employees has not fixed the problem, obviously. They just keep taking or asking for more. I saw they finally raised ticket prices in CVG. Not for the reasons you would think, but to redo parts of the airport!! WTFO!! Am if missing something here? If so, please expain it to me.
I'm sorry pax are going to go to other airlines. When and if this all gets worked out, they will come back. They always do. But if it get's bad enough, maybe it will give management the kick in the pants they need to do the right thing. Negotiate fairly.
Good luck to everyone. This doesn't only affect Delta pilots, it affects us all in some way. I will get off my soapbox now.

 

[calfo]

the McDonalds managers working at the airport will be making more than a 737 f/o

They already do - at Boston where the blue emb-190's live.