"Your honor, like most businesses, Delta Airlines has been struggling. Delta Airlines, like every other business in this country, could not forsee the 'perfect storm' of financial malaise that has descended upon this country.
This financial chaos has hit our business hard, and we are doing our best to save Delta Airlines, and the tens of thousands of jobs that are associated with it. We have been closely analyzing every aspect of our business in order to make the critical changes needed and inflict the least amount of pain upon the fewest individuals.
Yes, it is true that Delta is projecting to make a small amount of money this quarter. However, please contrast that amount to the billions of dollars that Delta has lost over the past few years. It is clear that we have a huge financial hole to claw our way out of. We are confident that, given the latitude we need to execute our recovery plan, we can and will recover. We think it would be irresponsible of us to honor outdated and backwards clauses of certain labor contracts that would hamper our recovery. The needs of the many Delta employee outweigh the needs of the few priveleged individuals.
Unfortunately, some of the changes that we need to survive involve breaking contractual covenants. As we previously mentioned, we do not believe that anyone in any capacity saw this level of financial devastation heading our way. In light of this situation, we are asking you to grant us the authority to envoke the 'force majure' clause of our contracts to make the necessary changes that will ensure the viability of Delta Airlines as a going concern."
Enjoy your furlough.
