The Delta TA has been approved by the MEC:
May 3, 2001
Delta Union's Governing Board Forwards Pact to Pilots
By LAURENCE ZUCKERMAN
New York Times
After five days of tense deliberations and a failed attempt to seek more concessions from management, the governing board of the union representing pilots at Delta Air Lines voted late yesterday to approve a tentative contract with the carrier.
The 22 voting members of the board, known as the master executive council, split 18 to 4 in favor of forwarding the new five-year contract to the union's nearly 10,000 members for a ratification vote.
Had the board rejected the proposal, which was reached 10 days ago, the union and the company would have had just seven days to reach a new agreement before the pilots could legally strike. But union leaders weighing that option faced the near certainty that President Bush would intervene to delay a strike for 60 days. The union then have faced the prospect that Congress would impose a settlement not as rich as the one the board had rejected.
"When it got down to it," said Andrew M. Deane, a spokesman for the union, "we had members who said `I don't like it that we've been put in a box because of the political situation, but I voted for it because of the political situation.' "
He said the union would begin the voting process later this month. Meetings will be held at Delta pilot bases nationwide to answer questions about the contract. The results are to be announced on June 20.
Both Delta and the union's leadership had described the tentative contract, which exceeds the top pay rates at United Airlines by 1 percent, as "industry leading." Under the agreement, pay rates would rise 24 percent to 34 percent over five years, adding $2.5 billion to Delta's costs, according to the airline.
But many Delta pilots say the agreement is inferior to the United contract in several areas other than pay. They say the deal does not fulfill the airline's promise to give pilots the top contract in the industry after they had accepted a concessionary agreement in 1996 just as the industry was beginning to post record profits following a steep downturn.
Last year, the average Delta pilot took home $188,038 in salary and benefits. A captain with 12 years' experience flying a Boeing 777, the airline's flagship, now earns $279,000 a year in salary and benefits.
Some pilots are upset about changes in work rules that they say diminish their quality of life. They also complain that the contract perpetuates a lower-wage scale at Delta Express, a low-fare unit within Delta that is intended to compete with Southwest Airlines.
After discussing shortcomings of the agreement with council members since Saturday, union negotiators sought yesterday to sweeten the deal. But the company declined to make changes and the council had to vote on the pact as negotiated.
Asked before the vote yesterday whether Delta would alter the contract, Leo F. Mullin, Delta's chief executive, said no. "We made a deal," he told reporters, "and certainly from the company's standpoint we're prepared to stick with the deal we made."