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Latest on ALPA negotiations

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[SIZE=-1]Apparently allowing DCI to operate another 75 70 seaters is worth $60 million. Wonder how much the changes that originally limited the number of 70 seaters in the C2K contract was worth? Isn't it great to know that the union that we pay our money to is using our flying as a bargaining chip? What about the 89 seaters of the same equipment type, is that a dead issue? Would ALPA gladly trade away 70 seat scope in exchange for pension guarantees? It sure sounds like it.[/SIZE]

So is the issue protecting junior Delta pilots, or Delta pilot jobs, or is it just that they can use DCI pilot jobs as a bargaining chip to try to get more for the senior guys at Delta?


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[SIZE=-1]Judge tells Delta, pilots to work out differences; Union adamant about protecting pensions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
December 3, 2005
A federal bankruptcy judge pressed Delta Air Lines and its pilots union to work harder toward a consensual deal on new pay cuts, as a hearing on management's request to void the current contract and impose cuts dragged through a sixth day.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Judge Prudence Beatty said Friday that she "ought not to get involved in negotiations" and doesn't favor mediation.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"I feel confident you know how to negotiate because you've done it a lot before," she told a lawyer for the Air Line Pilots Association, adding that Delta management can "learn."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Beatty's comments, made during a sometimes heated day of court discussion, were the latest indication she hopes Delta and the pilots will reach a compromise rather than force her to rule.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]ALPA attorney Bruce Simon raised the specter that the union could call a strike if Delta imposes its demands. At the same time, he said a deal could be reached quickly if the airline promises not to terminate its pension plans and dump the liabilities on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]"If they win, they lose," Simon told the judge.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Delta filed a so-called Section 1113 motion to void the contract after initial pay cut talks failed. The airline, which filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sept. 14, wants wage and other concessions worth $325 million a year, including a 19 percent wage cut.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]ALPA has offered a 9 percent pay cut and other concessions. The union previously said those concessions are worth more than $90 million annually. This week, the union upped the estimate to $150 million after assigning a value to rights that would allow Delta to shift flying to up to 200 regional jets with 70 seats each. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]The union said Delta's proposal hasn't assigned additional value for that option. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Delta financial chief Ed Bastian said the regional jet issue is "a fundamental part of the transformation plan" but worth less than ALPA's estimate. He declined to elaborate.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]He added that Delta "clearly knows how to negotiate" but said: "This is not a traditional negotiation. In a Section 1113 motion you are only allowed to ask for what you truly need. ... The company needs $325 million of cash, real savings."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Delta and ALPA officials both say they want a settlement but that no negotiations have taken place in the past week beyond the exchange of proposals with minor changes.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Hearings on the motion started last month and continued this week. By Friday only a handful of up to 21 scheduled witnesses had appeared, and they had mostly discussed the details of Delta's slide into bankruptcy after five years of huge losses.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Beatty scheduled four more days of hearings next week as the issue heads toward a potential deadline on Dec. 16, which would be 30 days after the initial hearing. Delta maintains that Beatty must make a decision by then. The judge has said she will try to get the parties to agree to an extension if needed.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]After the hearing, ALPA spokesman John Culp said many pilots are outraged by Delta's demands and would likely authorize a strike if the carrier's motion prevailed.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"Delta has seriously underestimated the resolve of pilots," said Culp. Delta contends a strike at this point would not be lawful under the Railway Labor Act.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Later in the hearing, Simon shouted to Delta's attorney that "we'll go out in the hall and get a deal" if the airline will guarantee that it won't terminate the pilots' pension plan. Delta attorney Jack Gallagher said the company cannot make a decision on its pension plans until it knows the outcome of pending legislation that would spread its huge pension fund obligations over 20 years.
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