DL and DALPA are meeting......

[General Lee]

Negotiators for Delta, Union Hold Talks
Tuesday April 11, 7:22 pm ET
By Harry R. Weber, AP Business Writer
Negotiators for Delta Air Lines, Pilots Union Try to Hammer Out Deal That Would Prevent Strike

ATLANTA (AP) -- Negotiators for Delta Air Lines Inc. and its pilots union met at a New York hotel Tuesday trying to hammer out an agreement over pay and benefit cuts that would prevent a strike that would doom the nation's third-largest carrier.

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Spokesmen for the company and the union declined to comment about the closed-door talks, which were said to be intensifying as they continued into the early evening.

The talks were expected to continue into Wednesday, the same day hundreds of Delta pilots planned to march outside the company's headquarters to protest the No. 3 U.S. airline's effort to void the pilot contract and impose up to $325 million in long-term pay and benefit cuts.

Any deal the sides were able to reach would have to be ratified by the airline's 5,930 pilots.

Last week, the pilots authorized their union leader to call a strike at anytime after Monday. An arbitration panel has until Saturday to decide on the company's contract rejection request, but that deadline could be extended if the sides were close to an agreement.

The pilots union has said it will strike if its contract is thrown out by the panel. Atlanta-based Delta, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, has said a strike would put it out of business.

The cuts the airline is seeking would include a wage reduction of at least 18 percent. The company has offered to reduce its concessions request to $305 million a year if the pilots reach a consensual deal, while the pilots say they have offered $140 million. It's not clear how, or if, those positions had changed Tuesday.

Delta's pilots previously agreed to $1 billion in annual concessions, including a 32.5 percent wage cut, in a five-year deal in 2004. But Delta, which has imposed pay cuts on other employees, said it needs more from its pilots after filing for bankruptcy protection in September.





Rumor has it that Bloch (one of the arbitrators) told them that whoever stops negotiating will lose the 1113c motion.(just a rumor) If the company won't budge, I say walk out and take our chances with a strike. Then they may budge.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[lowecur]

Hedge Bets

Fidelity Investments(mutual fund) and US Trust(Charles Schwab for the rich) have taken a combined 25% of UAL, and Fidelity grabbed another 13% of AMR. Both of these bets were taken while the stock price for both airlines is not cheap, plus oil is on the move again due to the surprising strength of the world economy driven by China/India.

The strategy is two-fold: The investment firms first and foremost see value in the merger and acquisition arena, and secondly they are betting that DL goes away. Do they have inside information? You bet they do, and this kind of scares me on the DL front. Just what is going on behind the scenes with Wall St investment banking? Can they make more money on the investment side with DL out of the way? It's a scenerio that must be carefully considered.

imp:

 

[AA717driver]

lowcur--I have also heard from investment types that DL can be allowed to disappear without a ripple on the air travel scene.

I chose to file that away with every other prediction of an airline's demise at the hands of Wall St.'s pinstripe-suited thugs. TC

 

[FlyingSig]

And GE, AmEx, and CitiBank own a large chunk of Delta and USAirways... but I guess they'll let their money dissapear since Fidelity and US Trust are much cooler companies...

... personally I'm rather disturbed that the company who manages my 401K would invest this much in any airline.


edit: looks like it's more money just changing hands...
(2/14/06)- The PBGC will sell about half of the 20% stake in UAL Corp., the parent of United Airlines, which recently emerged from bankruptcy protection. The agency became an unsecured creditor and largest single shareholder in UAL after the company shifted $10.2 billion in unfunded pension liabilities to the PBGC during the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

 

[Ty Webb]

Lowturd, our (message) Board-certified Anal-cyst, misses the obvious, again:

AirTran would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of a Delta shutdown, and its stock is down 10% in the past few days. Same with LUV, same with AMR.

I think you should stick to tea leaves and fortune cookies, and selling credit-life policies to shoeless Appalaichan types.

 

[Bosley]

Lowturd, our (message) Board-certified Anal-cyst, misses the obvious, again:

AirTran would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of a Delta shutdown, and its stock is down 10% in the past few days. Same with LUV, same with AMR.

I think you should stick to tea leaves and fortune cookies, and selling credit-life policies to shoeless Appalaichan types.

Beautiful!
Maybe he can get them embroided as well!

 

[lowecur]

Lowturd, our (message) Board-certified Anal-cyst, misses the obvious, again:

AirTran would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of a Delta shutdown, and its stock is down 10% in the past few days. Same with LUV, same with AMR.

I think you should stick to tea leaves and fortune cookies, and selling credit-life policies to shoeless Appalaichan types.

Another dolt heard from! The airline stocks are all down due to oil there genius.

AirTran may have initial short term benefits, but do they have the infrastructure to pick up the slack from a DL demise? No! Do AMR and UAL? Yes! Remember how quickly Miami bounced back when Eastern went belly up? Why, because AMR had the cast and crew to take advantage of that opportunity.

Don't get your hopes up there Ty, I still believe a compromise will be worked out, but you can't ignore some of the moves being made as just happenstance.

imp:

 

[Ty Webb]

Another dolt heard from! The airline stocks are all down due to oil there genius.

AirTran may have initial short term benefits, but do they have the infrastructure to pick up the slack from a DL demise?.

imp:

Yeah, Delta only has a direct overlay on almost every single one of our 500 daily departures . . . . can't see how AirTran would benefit . . . . and we're over 50% hedged, so oil is a concern, but not enough to mask the run-up in Wall Street believed as you.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day, Lowturd. Maybe you should stick to insurance.

 

[Flyforyou]

One of the best Avatars I've seen there Bosley...

Fly

 

[lowecur]

Yeah, Delta only has a direct overlay on almost every single one of our 500 daily departures . . . . can't see how AirTran would benefit . . . . Now there's a novel thought. Of course no other airline would dare challenge the mighty FL on those flts. They would probably carry a monopoly for the the next 20 years, right? Joe Bob LeoFornio could then go back to each station and demand hold-up money or he will pull out. Sounds like a plan Ty.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: .....

imp:

 

[~~~^~~~]

SkyWest just announced a $100 million IPO. Added to their current cash position, one could guess that perhaps they are going shopping.

The wildest rumor I heard involved Frontier.

 

[737 Pylt]

SkyWest just announced a $100 million IPO. Added to their current cash position, one could guess that perhaps they are going shopping.

The wildest rumor I heard involved Frontier.

Well, perhaps if it doesn't work out, you should sue to get your rightful place on their seniority list!
737

 

[wmuflyguy]

SkyWest just announced a $100 million IPO. Added to their current cash position, one could guess that perhaps they are going shopping.

The wildest rumor I heard involved Frontier.

Or the real reason is to pay off some debt.

from the article:

In a related matter, SkyWest on Tuesday began the public offering of 4 million shares of its common stock at a price of $26.05 a share. The sale, expected to end Monday, should raise $99.3 million. Rich said the proceeds will be used to repay $90 million that SkyWest borrowed to finance the ASA acquisition.

 

[atlcrashpad]

SKYWEST is going to purchase DELTA AIRLINES.

I heard it from a guy, who knows a dude, who dates a gal in the office where decisions are made. Oh yeah, and some mechanic dude said he knows a guy, who heard a girl say she overheard a conversation about some airplanes in Arizona painted in colors of an air carrier that flys popular routes.

 

[Ralgha]

SKYWEST is going to purchase DELTA AIRLINES.

I heard it from a guy, who knows a dude, who dates a gal in the office where decisions are made. Oh yeah, and some mechanic dude said he knows a guy, who heard a girl say she overheard a conversation about some airplanes in Arizona painted in colors of an air carrier that flys popular routes.

Why'd you leave out the part where they're going to staple the Delta pilots to the bottom of the SkyWest list?

 

[atlcrashpad]

Why'd you leave out the part where they're going to staple the Delta pilots to the bottom of the SkyWest list?

Oh yeah... that too.... Bouyyyyyyy

 

[Ty Webb]

Joe Bob LeoFornio could then go back to each station and demand hold-up money or he will pull out

You posted this same crap under a different screen name last year, LowTurd, and claimed you were a SWA guy. FL717 busted you on it. You should probably be bounced outta here.

PS., as far as "pulling out", too bad your Dad didn't.

 

[Uppercrust]

You posted this same crap under a different screen name last year, LowTurd, and claimed you were a SWA guy. FL717 busted you on it. You should probably be bounced outta here.

Good point!

PS., as far as "pulling out", too bad your Dad didn't

Another good point! Only problem for you is mama had twins.... and you're Lowturds other half!:laugh:

 

[lowecur]

You posted this same crap under a different screen name last year, LowTurd, and claimed you were a SWA guy. My idol, Joe Peeoznotz! Sorry Ty, but not me. FL717 busted you on it. I called 717 on his bluff to post my name, and guess what?........ppfftt! You should probably be bounced outta here. You need to take all that extra money you're making as a shoe salesman at night and see if you can buy this place..........then you can pull rank.

PS., as far as "pulling out", too bad your Dad didn't.

Ty Webb, I bet your mama was a tent show queen, and all her boy Friends were sweet sixteen. I’m no schoolboy but I know what I like, You should have heard me just around midnight.(My favorite Stone's song)


At least I know who my father was.:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

[exactlywrong]

Anyone got any pictures of the "giant inflatable rat" ? The one in ATL today ...

 

[General Lee]

Anyone got any pictures of the "giant inflatable rat" ? The one in ATL today ...

The pictures are on the DALPA website, and probably in the AJC tomorrow. Hillarious. It was 3 stories tall.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[ilinipilot]

First off everyone chill...

DL is way to big and way to important to go anywhere.
1. You have lessors who won't get paid.
2. the biggest airport in the world without its number one tenant.
3. you have one of the biggest cities, and states without a huge employer.
4. You have local businesses in ATL and GA without a source of good air service, (coke, Turner, etc)
5. Don't forget senators, congressman, etc whose districts are filled with DL employees and people dependant on DL.

I agree it might be good for an airline to go away, but if they let USairways live on and they had multiple chances to kill it, why would they let DL die. It makes No sense what so ever.

I am sure there are rumors of IBs saying DL can go away and its no big deal, but that is a ripple in the ocean compared to the influences I outlined above. it is probably a rumor generated to explain, enhance stock prices in recently purchased shares of UAL. It is smart for fidelity to start a rumor like that, so there new investment wont tank and they make some easy money. that Makes a lot more sense than other arguements.

D

 

[lowecur]

Mike Boyd weighs in.

Boyd thinks the pilots may have painted themselves into a corner. If it is Wall Streets conspiratorial plan to dump DL into the trash bin, then the pilot's are playing right into their hand.

Another airline industry consultant, Mike Boyd, said Delta's pilots can't strike, and they know it. "The options are either to continue negotiating or to shut the airline down," he said, noting that pilot leaders may have made a strategic error by "getting the troops all worked up, going into the 'strike-or-else' mode,' so that all of this emotional momentum can take the place of rational thought." "Saber-rattling is important, and strike authorization is essential," he continued. "But how it's used is a matter of diplomacy.

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/stocks/transportation/10279020.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

imp:

 

[radarlove]

Ahh...Boyd read the paper again and decides to tell us what he thinks about the articles. Yawn.

 

[michael707767]

Boyd thinks the pilots may have painted themselves into a corner. If it is Wall Streets conspiratorial plan to dump DL into the trash bin, then the pilot's are playing right into their hand.

if its wall streets plan to dump DL in the trash bin, nothing the Delta pilots can do will stop it. All the more reason not to cave and screw the rest of the pilots in this industry.