Delta/Northwest merger feedback
Peripherally I am an interested party in what is happening on your side of the ocean. I fly for Air France/KLM. The blue side. Not stating anything new, but KLM has had a long successful anti-trust agreement with Northwest, and the close cooperation between Air France and Delta Airlines, combined with our combined cooperation within Skyteam makes the negotiations that are on-going between Delta and Northwest as logical.
A few years back I mentioned this in another thread, as likely to happen. It sounds like the evil issue of seniority is one of the big stumbling blocks (certainly not the only one) standing in the way of this consolidation. I realize the Anglo/Saxon model of management is different than the more pragmatic approach in mainland Europe. The horrendous things that have happened to airline employees in the USA since 2001 would not be possible in my country. Also the rape and pillage of the pension funds, and the exorbitant bonuses that are common for failure within management is something that is not common. I am sure if a deal happens the new Delta/Northwest wants to get the most out of the deal from day one, deleting any duplication, and canning thousands of employees. I would like to relay a little bit of the experience at KLM since our take-over by Air France four years ago.
The flight operations between KLM and Air France are strictly separate. Our pilot unions, have from the beginning, negotiated a production agreement between the two airlines where a certain date is seen as the reference point as to what each airline was contributing, and to attempt keep this ratio as we grow (or in the future if it needs to happen, contract). That ratio is roughly 66% (Air France) and 34% (KLM). We have three seniority lists. One for each airline, and a new list that was started at the same time as the reference point. This list contains only pilots hired by both companies after the reference date (and is called the third list, and is strictly date of hire). No KLM or Air France pilot can bid into the other company, so your position on your company list determines your career path, and the production split guarantees proportional opportunities for both pilot groups.
In the last four years many support departments have been integrated, but because of growth no one has been fired. The fact that we now single source many things, from fuel to fleet, and catering and handling has led to a bigger saving than management initially envisioned. This has obviously been noticed by other managements as a way to squeeze more out of the assets deployed.
I would like to know from any Delta or Northwest pilots; what is being communicated to them as to the likely merger model that is being looked at? I have in the past listened with great amazement as one of my Northwest colleagues who I met on a layover explained a bit on how the pilot merger between Northwest and Republic Airlines was constructed (sounded like the tax code is simpler). But I was wondering if the model employed by Air France / KLM is something that could offer some assistance? I know both pilot committees at Delta and Northwest know the phone number of the Dutch pilot union.
Wishing all concerned the best.
Greetings O.