Delta's pilots union agrees to temporary 15% pay cut

0 Comments | USA TODAY, December, 2005 | by Marilyn Adams

Delta Air Lines pilots Wednesday narrowly agreed to take a big pay cut for the second year in a row, averting the immediate threat of a devastating strike at the USA's third-biggest airline.

The Air Line Pilots Association said Wednesday that members voted 58% to 42% to accept a temporary 15% pay cut, which follows a voluntary 30% cut pilots took last year.

Delta, in Chapter 11 reorganization after losing $11 billion in the last five years, had asserted it had the legal right to impose emergency wage cuts on the union. The union had threatened to strike if Delta unilaterally cut pilot pay. Before Christmas, negotiators for the company and the union reached a temporary agreement that had to be submitted to rank and file pilots for a vote.

Delta CEO Gerald...