Salt Lake City – Delta Air Lines Inc. pilots brought their informational picket over stalled contract talks to Salt Lake City International Airport on Monday, warning that they may strike if an agreement isn’t reached this spring.
About 50 pilots walked a picket line in front of the Delta terminal and handed out pamphlets detailing their grievances.
The Atlanta-based airline filed for bankruptcy protection in September, and the company is seeking wage and benefits concessions from the pilots to help it become solvent.
Pilots said they have already conceded enough. In 2004, the pilots agreed to $1 billion in concessions, including a 32.5 percent pay cut over five years.
They also criticized an agreement last week by a New York bankruptcy judge that approved a severance package for as many as 144 directors and officers who will lose their jobs in reorganization.
“It sends a bad signal,” said Capt. John D. Culp, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association. “We’re disappointed that management would pause to consider their own job security while they’re demanding significant reductions in job protections for Delta pilots.”
Culp, of Atlanta, has been a Delta pilot for 20 years.
Bruce Hicks, Delta’s spokesman for pilot negotiations, said the judge’s decision gave corporate managers only the same severance and furlough rights of other employees.
If negotiators for the pilots union and company can’t reach a comprehensive deal on long-term concessions by Wed nesday, a three-person panel would decide on the company’s request to reject the pilots’ contract so Delta can impose more than $300 million in cuts unilaterally. The arbitration panel would have 45 days to issue a ruling.
The pilots union has said it will strike if its contract is thrown out. The company has warned that a strike would put the nation’s third-largest carrier out of business.
