This so called agreement is good for both parties. There are plenty of pilots that would rather not work during the winter months----and to be able to be partially paid is great. Cold winter months can now be spent in warmer climates. This also benefits the company----saving up to 15 hours of pay per month. A win -win situation.
As far as the upcoming potential furloughs---
an arbitration hearing is scheduled for early Feb (the 5th I believe)---and the pilots union---ALPA---believes that they will be able to show that the woes that Delta is feeling is not all from the 9-11
tradgedy. There are many factors showing that the Recession and the high jobless rate
in the last year has primarily affected Delta----NOT only 9-11. The No Furlough
clause in the pilot contract says under
"Circumstances over which the company does not have control" that regarless of the state of the economy,
the financial state of the company, or the relative profitability or UNprofitability
of the company's then current operations-----there should be No furloughs. The Vice President of AAA---a major US company dealing with travel in the states----was quoted in the Tues Dec 11th USA Today newspaper as saying, "The travel slowdown
can't be attributed solely to terrorism fears. 'The current recession and the nation's unemployment situation are the major contributors.' " FOX News reported that Southwest Airlines, Frontier, and Airtran Airines were doing very well lately
with increasing loads. That is because they offer lower fares, and passengers today are worried about the economy. Terrorism is not scaring passengers off their planes. So,
Delta's claims that all the losses are due to Terrorism solely---are unfounded and hopefully the furloughs will stop.
Thank you. Donkey Duke
