Release #06.DAL16
April 5, 2006

Delta Pilots' Chairman Receives Final Authority to Call a Strike

ATLANTA, Ga. -- Today, during a meeting in Washington D.C., the Delta pilot union’s governing body, the Delta Master Executive Council (MEC) of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) gave the chairman of the Delta pilots’ union authorization to call a strike in accordance with the recent overwhelming vote of the Delta pilots. Delta MEC Chairman, Captain Lee Moak, reaffirmed, “The Delta pilots will strike if their contract is rejected.”

The Delta MEC resolution authorizes Captain Moak “to order and implement a strike at anytime after April 17, 2006 and in a manner determined at his sole discretion.” Despite the membership strike vote, Delta executives have acknowledged, under oath in the recent hearings, they have no plan to deal with a pilot strike. However, Delta executives do have a choice: Delta senior executives could withdraw their 1113 motion to reject the pilots’ contract, begin meaningful negotiations, and immediately begin to restore stability to the airline. Instead, they continue to attack the pilots with overreaching demands, while having no plan to deal with the fallout from this course of action. 

Just 16 months ago, the Delta pilots voluntarily gave back approximately 50 percent of the value of their contract, including a 32.5 percent pay cut. Delta now demands an additional 50 percent of the of the remaining value of their contract, including an additional 18 percent pay cut and termination of the pilots’ pension plan. Delta executives openly acknowledge there is no hope of maintaining the pilots’ pension plan, due in no small part, to their refusal to fund the plan.

The decision to reject the contract currently rests with a third-party neutral panel in accordance with the terms of Letter of Agreement 50, and their decision to either deny or grant the Company’s motion is expected by April 15.

Founded in 1931, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) represents 62,000 pilots at 39 airlines in the U.S. and Canada. ALPA represents approximately 6,000 active Delta Air Lines pilots and 500 furloughed Delta pilots. Visit the ALPA website at http://www.alpa.org and the Delta pilots’ website at http://www.deltapilots.org/.

# # #

CONTACT: Kelly Collins, 404-763-4925. Please visit the Delta pilots’ website, www.deltapilots.org, for more information.