Delta Air Lines Management & Pilot Union Play Hardball

@Sparky riiiight, like the zero to hero program at ATP that takes less than a year?. It’s absurd how can sit here to tell me that an airline will only have enough cash for four days of pilots work for free, first I call B.S giving that it takes over 2.6b a year to maintain pilot groups at major legacy airlines. Second; no one here is suggesting you work for free, though, pushing buttons and greeting passengers isn’t a skill. The fact that pilots are the highest paid and yet not taking any concession during these unprecedented times is very low if you ask me. How is it fair for the rest of the workforce groups?. And my job application at an airline is strictly based on family values and marriage commitment, something you pilots know nothing about.

From distributing 1.6 billion on Feb 14th to begging for government handouts in April, quite the turnaround. You have to ask, if I'm expected to have 6 months cash expenses on hand as head of a household, how on earth can an airline not have more than 6 months cash on hand for such emergencies? The decision to maintain such low cash reserves was a business decision either made by fools, or made in the expectation that in a jam, Congress would step in. I think they should have to burn through a few billion before they start begging, If they go bankrupt, someone else will buy their airplanes and create a new airline company

I, myself, took the “voluntary” leave at Delta because for one I care about my health and my family’s health. Why on earth would I subject myself to people on the airplane who flying with being infected with the virus? The worst environment to be in in a pandemic and not have protective equipment. Seriously, think about it! Secondly, no union no pay. At first DL said in order to get paid for all your trips that are canceled you will have two options. One, be on call 24/7 for the days you were suppose to work or get a priority pick up later. Well we all know there are no trips. So I beg the difference. It’s not company loyalty or team playing. It’s about survival. And when government kicked in more money for unemployment pay that made all the difference in the world for those that were considering the leave. I would say about 80% of the “voluntary” leaves are from the Flight Attendant group. The company is not looking out for customers or employees whatsoever. They are not giving refunds cause they don’t have the cash. Just ask Warren Buffet why he sold all of his DL stock.

All the Negativity, Between the work groups is EXACTLY what management wants. You guys are putty in their hands ... Thats why CEOs get payed so much.. Look what they can do.(just read the comments). Bob Crandal was a Genius at that at AA back in the day... We will see what Scott Kirby does at UAL with this whole deal...Fangs haven't come out there yet... This couldnt be a worse time for work groups to start inner fighting with each other... You Delta Folks have a good airline , dont let management talk u into clawing each others eyes out during this ugly time and wreck it.. Management has golden Parachutes, YOU DONT..
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To be clear about sacrifices:
The Pilots ARE taking a pay cut by the reduced ALV flight hours every single month.
And to be clear, the Delta pilots have dedicated their entire lives to flying the passengers safely around the world and have sacrificed as much or more than anyone at Delta .
Of those who have a short memory or unfamiliar with the history of Delta, the pilots sacrificed their pension ( in addition to drastic pay cuts,duty rigs,medical benefits,multiple quality of life issues etc.,etc ) to save the company during the 2006 bankruptcy negotiations with the assumption that management was going to fairly reinstate same or all these give backs and sacrifices after Delta's return to record profitability.
However, after emerging from bankruptcy in 2007, all the other Delta employees pension's were reinstated (and now fully funded) all, except for the pilots.
Even with record profits,stock buy backs,management stock and pay bonuses and the fully funded employee pension, the pilots still have no pension.
How is that not a sacrifice and how is that fair to the pilots ?
In addition, Pilots, due to the unique job skills,professional standards and medical requirements are forced to retire at age 65. If anyone should have a pension, it should be the ones that are forced to retire ( not by choice or any fault of theirs) but rather only due to their unique job standards,proficiency,testing and other requirements,including medical,etc.
Any other airline employee can work as long as they want or need to?

Bottom line is that everyone at all airlines and elsewhere are making sacrifices and struggling with this unprecedented crisis. But to say the Delta pilots are not team players is completely false and ignorant of the facts and actual history and reasons for Delta's quick and profitable rebound and success after bankruptcy.

So far all I’ve heard is Pilots Bad, Everyone Else good..... United and AA Bad.... Delta Good..... Really??? The honest to God truth is there is not a pilot working for the Big 3 that qualify’s for ANY form of Government Help..... That includes unemployment! Leave does not qualify you for Unemployment as many of you are about to find out! Our incomes are to high to get 1-penny of stimulus checks..... our kids don’t get 1 penny of financial aid in college.... normal expenses continue for us just like everyone else.... the government is sending airlines money to pay EVERY EMPLOYEE at their minimum contract pay or pay rate for 4 months.... management shouldn’t be beating any employee group down to keep money and use for other than its intended use.... I’m not a Democrat.... but thank God a Democrat attached September 30th restriction time the stimulus or we would all be home with nothing.....Management will always deal in $$$$$ as touchy feely as they get in good time..... employees are only as good as the $$$ they produce..... try not to forget that!

The ignorance and jealousy displayed in these comments are ridiculous.
1) The only reason all the employees have any profit-sharing is because the pilots negotiated it back before bankruptcy when their pay, benefits, work rules and retirement were being destroyed. Management threw that as a bone to the pilots not thinking they would ever have to pay that much. To keep the 'optics" (meaning they don't want any other group unionizing), management extended the profit sharing to all employees. Management has been trying (with some success) to reduce profit sharing for years now that they had to pay out large amounts. They tried to take most of it away from the non-union employees but the pilots voted it down and the company (after much blowback from the other employees), had to reinstate it. Now management celebrates the profit sharing as if they are so benevolent even though they tried to get rid of most of it. Hypocrites....
2. The pilot's union came to the company immediately after the international shutdown to offer help. Company and union came to an agreement to re-bid the April bid and offer reduced pay incentive lines. April re-bid saved $100+ million and incentive lines would have saved $10's millions each month. In the meantime, company offered unpaid leave to non-union employees (some were coerced to take). Many took them. Now, because of the optics, company reneged on their agreement with the pilots and demanded a 20% pay cut. Union offer of the reduced paid incentive lines and an early retirement program would save company more money. Company walks away. Why? Because they don't want to pilots to be seen as getting a better deal than non-union employees. So because of optics, the company is foregoing $100's millions of concessions from pilots. It's obvious that the company is more interested in optics than saving money. So obviously they don't need the money. 2 points here: first, unpaid leave has been offered to the pilots and some of them took it. So yes, pilots are participating. Second, the demographics of those taking the unpaid leave is vastly different than the pilots. Almost all the pilots are the sole financial providers of their families while many of the other employees are not. Many are part-timers. Plus, at their pay, many of these employees will be fully compensated on unemployment and many will get a pay raise. It's simple math. For those who took leave out of pure loyalty to Delta, good for them, but you are being naive. This is a revenue problem, not a payroll problem. Payroll is now completely being covered until the end of Sept due to government grants, so no need for pay cuts, etc. Company needs money to cover other costs which are available to them in private and government loans.
3. There is no trust in Delta's management team. Yes, some employees believe their rhetoric and drink the Kool-aid, but here are some facts. After raping the pilots in bankruptcy in 2006-2007, and stealing their pensions, gutting work rules and enacting nearly 50% pay cuts, and after Delta making insanely record profits for the past 8 years ($5 billion plus most years), the pilots pay is still less (with inflation) than 15 years ago. Management has enforced draconian work rules every chance they have gotten, gutted insurance and have been unwilling to negotiate in good faith a new pilot contract over the past year. So what has happened to the profits? Much of it (over $10 billion) has been wasted in stock buybacks that have enriched the shareholders (a little) and management (a lot). Pilots have seen this song and dance before and are not going to fall for it again. Pitting the rest of the employee groups against the pilots has been a sad move by management for the past 30 years and the pilots aren't going to be swayed by this manipulation.
In the end, if the other employee groups don't like the pilots being able to stick up for themselves, then unionize. Sorry you don't like the optics, but the pilots pay for representation to protect their interests against a greedy and self-serving management team. It's time like these that having a union pays. The pilots have always done what is best for Delta but they will not be taken advantage of, lied to, and manipulated by a dishonest management team.

Two things:

1. There are many work groups where individuals can make money doing something else other than Delta. They could take the leave, keep the flight benefits and get a job elsewhere doing anything else. Pilots can't just find a job that pays the same. All our other options are flying, and all of those jobs are dried up. Most pilots I know, including myself are the only source of income for their entire family. That's not easy to replace.
2. Pilots have long memories, and they remember all the times they "sacrificed for the good of the company". Pay cuts, furloughs, contract concessions, retirement wiped away.... And they know that the company will never repay their sacrifice unless it's in writing. Profit sharing isn't Delta's generosity, it's contractual. They negotiated it, and must deliver it. The pilots here are trying to make sure they don't get screwed down the line.

Note: Delta is burning goodwill with it's pilot group by offering SIL's to get a LOA signed, then promptly revoking them because it was convenient. They had the same deal as AA and UAL, but Delta balked out.

Pilots didn't "take a big chunk of profit sharing", we were paid by the company their contractual obligations based on earnings triggers. Quite frankly the ONLY reason any other employee group receives profit sharing is because Delta didn't like the optics of just paying the pilots (what we were contractually due)...so although we pay union dues, we do so on behalf of most of the other employee groups.
To think that the pilots aren't "team players" is a bold-faced lie by management...we agreed to let the company re-run our April schedule and saved them almost 100 million based on that alone. We've offered similar solutions that our peers at other airlines are receiving... we've even had the company agree only to go back on their word. Bad financial planning (buy backs) isn't an excuse to guilt any employee group to take an unpaid leave.
It's disingenuous for the company to parade the 27,000 employees taking unpaid leave as a reason for the pilots to fall in line....those employees are collecting unemployment amongst other benefits and for a lot of them, that makes them "whole".
In short, what are the pilots asking for? Exactly what their pilot peers are receiving elsewhere. The reason we're not getting it? Management is fearful of other employee groups on property unionizing.

@Greg

Let’s be very clear what it means for a pilot to be making a “huge” paycut. Even if they were to also accept a 25% pay reduction, they are still paid at least double what most at even headquarters make. Your right unemployment + stimulus will payout equal to or better to ground employee pay because of the amount they make vs the pilots. And pilot’s are sacrificing because a 25% still wouldn’t make them eligible for the stimulus payout? Again let’s put this into perspective in $$ terms.

As for the stock buybacks, that is complete garbage in DL terms. Employee’s got more than there fair share with the best Profit sharing payout of any company ever.

Let’s not forgot.. UA and AA pilots have both accepted reduced pay and they are paid LESS than DL pilots....What are we missing here?

"everyone is making a big sacrifice, except one work group."
Even Delta management has admitted that for most employees, unemployment pays as much or even more than they would make staying on. The idea that these employees are sacrificing is blatantly false.
Pilots on the other hand would take a significant pay reduction going on unemployment which would require sacrifices from their families. Pilots already offered to sacrifice MORE than these other employees (who once again are being fully paid by the government) and because of optics, management chose not to accept those savings. The bailout from the government is meant to pay all employee salaries, not be used as a slush fund for whatever management wants
The pilots have been complaining about the huge stock buybacks for years. That money would be very helpful right now. This is a crisis of revenue not cost. No amount of slashing payrolls will make up for no one flying.