Delta,
Northwest pilots approve joint labor contract
Published on: 08/11/08
Published on: 08/11/08
Delta and Northwest pilots have approved a joint labor contract that will take effect when the two airlines' proposed merger closes.
In voting that ended Monday, about 61.7 percent of Delta pilots voted in favor of the agreement, according to the Delta pilots union. About 86.8 percent of Northwest pilots voted in favor of the agreement, the pilots union said.
Of 6,231 eligible Delta pilots, 5,120 voted, the union said. Of those that voted, 3,161 were in favor of the agreement.
Of 4,371 eligible Northwest pilots, 3,535 voted. Of those that voted, 3,067 voted in favor.
"This historic milestone marks the first time that a labor agreement has been reached in advance of the close of an airline merger," said Delta's pilots union chairman Lee Moak in a written statement.
The Delta and Northwest pilots groups are represented by separate units of the Air Line Pilots Association.
"This momentous vote broke the traditional merger paradigm," Northwest's pilots union chairman Dave Stevens said in a written statement.
The pilots agreement is a key element of the two carriers' merger plan. It brings Northwest pilots' pay up to the level of Delta pilots and includes a 5 percent pay raise in 2009 followed by 4 percent annual raises from 2010 through 2012. It also includes 3.5 percent in equity in the combined company for Delta pilots and 2.38 percent for Northwest pilots. The deal covers Delta's 7,000 pilots and Northwest's 4,500 pilots.
The labor agreement does not settle the issue of seniority integration, which governs how the two groups would be merged for purposes of aircraft assignments and other work issues.
The pilot groups have agreed to submit to binding arbitration if they can't come to terms on seniority integration through negotiations. A three-member arbitration panel has already been chosen.
Delta and Northwest's proposed merger is expected to close by the end of the year, pending regulatory and shareholder approval. The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing the proposed deal. Delta and Northwest shareholders meetings are scheduled for Sept. 25.
In a memo to Delta pilots Friday, Moak said ratifying the contract would give pilots "the opportunity to secure our future in an increasingly difficult industrial and economic environment."
Employees
to get 15 percent of Delta's equity after merger
Published on: 08/06/08
Delta Air Lines plans to issue 15 percent of its equity to employees of the combined carrier resulting from its proposed merger with Northwest Airlines, according to a Wednesday regulatory filing.
That breaks down as 3.5 percent for about 600 to 700 management employees; 3.5 percent for Delta pilots; 2.38 percent for Northwest pilots; and 4 percent for other employees. Another 1.62 percent will be set aside for future grants to employees.
Kelly Yamanouchi
EU
approves Delta-Northwest merger
U.S. decision still pending
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/06/08
Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines have received approval from the European Union for their proposed merger.
The two carriers are still awaiting a decision from the U.S. Department of Justice on the deal.
Delta chief executive Richard Anderson said in a written statement: "We continue to work closely with the U.S. Department of Justice and remain confident that we will be able to finalize the merger by the end of the year."
The merger also must receive approval of shareholders, who are scheduled to meet Sept. 25. Atlanta-based Delta and Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest announced their proposed merger in April.
According to the European Commission, the EU's antitrust authority, the airlines' passenger service on transatlantic routes are "mainly complementary as they have hubs in different U.S. cities."
Its review of passenger service took into account the fact that Delta and Northwest are partners through the SkyTeam airline alliance and already cooperate on transatlantic routes with European SkyTeam members, including Air France, KLM, CSA Czech Airlines and Alitalia.
The commission also said the deal would have "only a limited impact" on transatlantic cargo transport because of the airlines' limited presence in the market.
Unions
dig in for Delta fight
Representation is deeply ingrained in
the culture at merger partner Northwest.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/06/08
As Delta Air Lines works toward its proposed merger with Northwest Airlines, labor unions at the highly unionized Northwest are ramping up efforts to organize employees at the largely nonunion Delta.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents about 12,000 employees at Northwest, has opened an office in Atlanta across the street from Delta's headquarters for its ongoing campaign to organize Delta employees.
Frank Niemeir/fniemeir@ajc.com
|
| Nancy Mobley (left) and Kim
Gigliotti, members of unions at Northwest, hand out
fliers to Delta employees at the company's parking lot
off Camp Creek Parkway. One union has opened an office
across from Delta's headquarters. |
Frank Niemeir/fniemeir@ajc.com
|
| A union wanting to represent a
segment of Delta's employees must get signed
authorization cards from 35 percent of the workers
involved to force an election. |
Frank Niemeir/fniemeir@ajc.com
|
| Unionized Northwest workers
including Kevin Carden (right) hand out fliers at the
Delta employees' parking lot near Hartsfield-Jackson
International Airport. |
And at the Association of Flight Attendants, committees of flight attendants from Delta and Northwest are working on a campaign to try again to organize the attendants at Delta after the merger is complete.
The flight attendants union lost an election to unionize Delta's flight attendants in May. They plan to file for another election after Northwest and Delta combine. Flight attendants from both airlines would vote in a combined election on whether to be unionized. Northwest has about 7,000 flight attendants; Delta has about 14,000.
"If this merger goes through and there is to be another election, this will be one of the largest union elections in the country," Association of Flight Attendants spokeswoman Corey Caldwell said. Northwest flight attendants "have a lot to lose if they lose their contract," she said.
Only one major group at Delta is represented by a union — its 7,000 pilots. About 200 dispatchers also are unionized. Northwest employees are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Association of Flight Attendants, International Association of Machinists, Transport Workers Union, Aircraft Technical Support Association, Northwest Airlines Meteorologist Association and Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, among others.
The Machinists want to organize ramp workers, customer service employees, reservations employees, maintenance workers and others at Delta — about 25,000 to 30,000 total, according to Stephen Gordon, president of District 143 of the union.
The union is handing out fliers and authorization cards to employees outside Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, in a nearby Delta employee parking lot and outside Delta's reservations office. With authorization cards for at least 35 percent of employees it wants to represent, a union can file for an election.
"Delta has always been the most anti-union airline," said Gary Mobley, who is running the Atlanta campaign. "We're trying to write a new chapter where we're able to organize it."
His group of seven people working out of the Atlanta office is focused on Delta's ramp workers and customer service employees at the airport. But the organizing effort is no sure thing. The Transport Workers Union, for example, has tried unsuccessfully to organize Delta ramp workers in the past. And Delta management will be waging its own campaign to persuade employees of the benefits of remaining nonunion.
"We will continue to talk to employees and share our point of view about how our direct relationship that we've had with our work groups and our people has always served us well ... and benefited Delta's people over the years," said Mike Campbell, Delta's executive vice president of human resources, labor and communications.
The Machinists union also is passing out information to Delta employees in other places across the country, including Salt Lake City and New York.
"Our goal is to organize the Delta workers regardless of whether there's a merger or not," said Machinists union spokesman Joe Tiberi. He said efforts to organize Delta workers began in 2006, two years before the merger was announced.
The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association also started a campaign in 2006 to organize Delta mechanics. AMFA went on a 15-month strike at Northwest that started in 2005 and lost the union many of its members at the carrier. Hundreds of other mechanics working at Northwest are replacement workers from the strike. Other mechanics are on furlough, but their time to be potentially called back to work expires Nov. 6.
With a much smaller maintenance operation, Northwest "put themselves in a position to easily merge with Delta because Delta does have the infrastructure and all that Northwest has to do is have a layoff at Northwest and eliminate all those replacement workers," said AMFA national director Steve MacFarlane. MacFarlane said AMFA's goal is still to file for an election.
Meanwhile, the National Mediation Board is seeking to revise its rules that govern union representation in an airline merger. It has proposed to add language saying the board would "exercise its discretion" and extend the representation of a union from employees of one carrier to both carriers only when there is "more than a substantial majority, as determined by the board."
GROUPS REPRESENTED
Northwest unionized employees
- About 4,500 pilots
- About 7,000 flight attendants
- About 900 mechanics and related workers, including union members and nonunion workers
- About 12,000 baggage handlers, customer service agents, reservations agents, stock clerks, quality service agents, skycaps, guards, clerical staff and WorldClub employees
- About 200 technicians
- About 160 dispatchers
- About 20 meteorologists
Total employees, including union and nonunion: About 34,000
Delta unionized employees
- About 7,000 pilots
- About 200 dispatchers
Total employees, including union and nonunion: About 50,000
Delta
reports planes as full as last July
Published on:
08/05/08
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines said its planes were 86.7 percent full in July, on par with its 86.8 percent level a year ago.
In the month, Delta increased its capacity measured in available seat miles by 0.9 percent, compared with a year earlier, while its traffic measured in revenue passenger miles grew 0.7 percent.
At AirTran Airways, which is based in Orlando and has its hub in Atlanta, planes were 89.2 percent full in July, up from 86 percent a year earlier. AirTran increased its capacity by 10.1 percent in July compared with a year earlier, while its traffic grew by 14.1 percent.
— Kelly Yamanouchi
AirTran's
pilot buyout falls short, making cuts likely
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on:
AirTran Airways, which is shrinking its work force as it tries to cope with high fuel costs, said Tuesday it may not have to furlough any flight attendants but that some pilots may have to be let go.
AirTran, which is based in Orlando and has its hub in Atlanta, announced in July that it planned to cut 300 flight attendants and 180 pilots to reduce its annual costs by about $16 million. Employees had until Thursday to apply for a leave of absence or an early-exit package.
AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson said the company generated enough requests for leaves — offered to flight attendants — to likely avoid furloughing any of them. But it attracted fewer applications for voluntary exit packages offered to employees with five years of seniority across the company, including pilots.
It offered the exit packages to try to offset furloughs or layoffs. Most of the job cuts will be in Atlanta because all of AirTran's pilots and most of its flight attendants are based here.
The company's exit packages offered extended health and travel benefits but not a cash payout to those with enough seniority at the company, excluding directors and officers. It attracted only a small group of takers.
"We're a fairly young company, so we don't have a lot of high-seniority people," Hutcheson said. "The majority of our employees were hired within the last five years and didn't qualify for the early exit. It generated some interest, and you'll perhaps see two dozen people leave via the early exit program."
AirTran, which has about 8,900 employees, said it would furlough or lay off workers Sept. 6 to meet its targeted job cuts.