Will Be Put To Vote Mid-May... After NWA Pilots Vote On Their Deal

Is it a sign of a cooling-off in the heated relationship between Delta Air Lines and its pilots? Well, perhaps not yet... but in a definite step in the right direction, leaders of Delta's pilots union agreed late Friday to support the tentative pay deal negotiators hashed out one week before.

With the leadership's approval, the contract will now be put to vote in mid-May. The Financial Times reports the airline's 5,390 pilots will have until the end of that month to vote on the deal -- which the airline confirmed Saturday includes around $280 million in annual savings for the airline, as well as making permanent a once-temporary pay cut agreed to last December.

Delta also stated the overall deal had been changed to consider "the likelihood" that the airline would terminate its pension plan, and turn it over to the Federal pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Pilots at Delta had threatened to strike if the airline had been granted permission to toss out their existing contract by a federal arbitration panel, which was called in after initial talks between the two groups fell apart. While that threat has lessened in light of recent developments, it hasn't faded completely -- especially in the minds of travellers, many of whom made other arrangements just in case Delta stopped flying.

Labor experts report Delta's pilots remain split on the proposed deal... but also that those pilots tended to follow their leadership's recommendations.

In any event, pilots at Delta will have the chance to watch as another pilot labor crisis plays out before they vote on their deal: pilots at Northwest Airlines -- which, like Delta, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 14, 2005 -- are due to finish voting on their tentative contract on May 3. Like their compatriots at Delta, Northwest's pilots have also threatened to walkout if management imposes new terms, should the tentative offer be rejected.

A "sneak preview" of the outcome of that vote may come as soon as Tuesday, according to the Financial Times. Union leaders will vote April 25 on whether to recall the chairman and vice-chairman of the union.

FMI: www.delta.com, www.alpa.com, www.nwa.com