Delta pilots rally, defend contract

ATLANTA – Delta Air Lines Inc. pilots put on a united front Tuesday in defense of their contract from the company’s attempt to void the agreement in bankruptcy court and impose deep pay and benefit cuts. The pilots insist their strike threat is not a bluff.

More than 800 Delta pilots and their spouses packed the rally at a suburban Atlanta convention center a day before a U.S. bankruptcy court judge in New York hears the airline’s request to reject the pilot contract.

The nation’s third-largest carrier, which filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sept. 14, has said it will impose $325 million in concessions on its 6,000 pilots if it gets its way in court.

“This is not about revolution. It’s about resolution,” the chairman of the union’s executive committee, Lee Moak, told the crowd. “We will take this company back. It will be returned to its rightful owner – the employees of Delta Air Lines.”

The pilots have offered $90.7 million in average annual concessions over four years. The cuts would be on top of $1 billion in annual concessions the pilots agreed to in a five-year deal reached in 2004. That deal included a 32.5 percent pay cut.

Delta spokesman Dan Lewis said the airline believes that its request of the pilots is fair and he also said the company doesn’t believe a strike will ever occur.

“If you look around the industry at the carriers in similar situations, typically they’ve come to the table and reached a consensual agreement. We believe the same thing will happen here. Cooler heads will prevail,” he said.