General Lee
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AP
Ahead of the Bell: Delta-NWA pilot seniority
Thursday October 2, 6:04 am ET Arbitration hearings begin over how to integrate Delta-NWA pilot seniority lists
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A three-member arbitration panel was to begin closed-door hearings to determine how to integrate the pilot seniority lists at Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. after the two carriers combine.
Thursday's session was being held at a hotel near Los Angeles. It was to last until Sunday. The hearings were to continue Oct. 20-24 in Washington and then return to Los Angeles from Nov. 15-17.
Union officials said the hearings would be closed to the news media.
The two sides have been in a stalemate over how to integrate their seniority lists, though they have approved a joint collective bargaining agreement covering roughly 12,000 pilots.
Pilots value their seniority because it determines their schedule, the aircraft they fly and layoff protection.
The panel -- California labor attorney Fredric Horowitz, attorney Dana Eischen and veteran arbitrator Richard Bloch -- was being called on to resolve the seniority issue.
A written decision, which would be binding, is due by Nov. 20.
Horowitz and Bloch also served on an arbitration panel selected in 2006 to determine whether Delta, which was under bankruptcy protection at the time, could void its pilots' contract and impose pay and benefit cuts unilaterally. Delta's pilots union, which had threatened to strike, eventually agreed to concessions, and that panel never issued a ruling.
Those hearings, unlike the ones that begin Thursday, were open to the media. Atlanta-based Delta's stock-swap deal to acquire Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest, announced April 14, was given the go-ahead by shareholders of both companies on Sept. 25. It is still subject to regulatory approval. Delta is hoping to close the deal by the end of the year
Bye Bye--General Lee
Ahead of the Bell: Delta-NWA pilot seniority
Thursday October 2, 6:04 am ET Arbitration hearings begin over how to integrate Delta-NWA pilot seniority lists
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A three-member arbitration panel was to begin closed-door hearings to determine how to integrate the pilot seniority lists at Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. after the two carriers combine.
Thursday's session was being held at a hotel near Los Angeles. It was to last until Sunday. The hearings were to continue Oct. 20-24 in Washington and then return to Los Angeles from Nov. 15-17.
Union officials said the hearings would be closed to the news media.
The two sides have been in a stalemate over how to integrate their seniority lists, though they have approved a joint collective bargaining agreement covering roughly 12,000 pilots.
Pilots value their seniority because it determines their schedule, the aircraft they fly and layoff protection.
The panel -- California labor attorney Fredric Horowitz, attorney Dana Eischen and veteran arbitrator Richard Bloch -- was being called on to resolve the seniority issue.
A written decision, which would be binding, is due by Nov. 20.
Horowitz and Bloch also served on an arbitration panel selected in 2006 to determine whether Delta, which was under bankruptcy protection at the time, could void its pilots' contract and impose pay and benefit cuts unilaterally. Delta's pilots union, which had threatened to strike, eventually agreed to concessions, and that panel never issued a ruling.
Those hearings, unlike the ones that begin Thursday, were open to the media. Atlanta-based Delta's stock-swap deal to acquire Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest, announced April 14, was given the go-ahead by shareholders of both companies on Sept. 25. It is still subject to regulatory approval. Delta is hoping to close the deal by the end of the year
Bye Bye--General Lee
