Delta deal pits current pilots and retired pilots

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 25, 2006 | by Harry R. Weber Associated Press

ATLANTA -- Delta Air Lines Inc.'s pilots union said Wednesday it would oppose an effort by some retired pilots to block the union's wage concession deal with the bankrupt carrier.

The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents Delta's 5,930 active pilots, said in a statement that the agreement reached last month is in the best interest of the airline, its pilots and its creditors.

"It is unfortunate that this threat to our careers and our airline now comes from some of our own former pilots," Lee Moak, chairman of the union's executive committee, said.

On Tuesday, a group that represents some retired Delta pilots asked a bankruptcy court judge to reject the wage concession agreement.

The Delta Pilots' Pension Preservation Organization said in its objection that if the agreement is approved it would set the stage for drastically reducing certain pension benefits of the airline's 5,800 retired pilots.

A hearing on the objection is scheduled for May 31, the same day Delta's active pilots are scheduled to complete their voting on the agreement, which the nation's third-largest carrier says would save it an average of $280 million a year.

The court has the final say.

The retired pilots say the agreement is improper because they believe it goes beyond what is necessary to help Delta successfully reorganize. They also allege in their objection that Delta failed to negotiate the agreement "so as to treat fairly and equitably all creditors and affected parties."

Delta has defended the agreement as essential to the airline's health.

The new agreement, which includes an initial 14 percent pay cut and assurances the union won't fight the company's likely plan to terminate the pilots' defined benefit pension plan, would replace an interim deal accepted by the pilots that became effective on Dec. 15.

If the deal is not approved by the airline's active rank-and- file pilots or the court, it could revive the threat of a pilots strike. That's because an arbitration panel that Delta had asked to reject its pilot contract so it could unilaterally impose the cuts it is seeking would again consider the request. The pilots have said repeatedly they would strike if their contract is voided.