Everybody's Got to Pitch In

The white-collar set at Delta will be losing a bit of that "starch" starting March 1, when across-the-board salary reductions of 10% will take effect. Delta Chief Executive Leo Mullin (right) and President Fred Reid will drop their pay 10%, as others with window offices will see an 8% reduction in pay.

Many expect Mullin's next move to be an approach to ALPA, to see if the 2001 pilots' contract can be 'adjusted to meet the airline's ability to pay.' So far, ALPA says they haven't been approached; but they're willing to listen.

That 2001 contract matched United's pilots' contract, in the Spring of 2001. That contract, called "industry-leading" by the union, is called, "...just way, way, way higher than anybody else" by Mullin, whose approval then doesn't translate into good business sense, now.

United, of course, is in Chapter 11. Since the filing, United pilots have cut their own pay 29%; US Airways, another major airline in Chapter 11, talked its pilots into a 27% cut; and American, looking at record losses and a bankruptcy filing, has to save billions, and soon -- leading to the obvious: contract renegotiations are likely there, too.

After the pilots' salaries are addressed, don't expect Delta to stop looking for additional savings. Mullin, though, says he's reasonably sure that, with some strategic pay cuts, at least job cuts won't be part of the near future. Delta has cut 16,000 from its payroll since that bloody September 11.

How much?

Mullin and Reid haven't yet disclosed their 2002 pay; but, based on 2001 numbers, the Dayton Daily News says Mullin will get a pay cut of $79,500; Reid will have $65,500 less; after taxes, those cuts still represent hundreds of dollars.

FMI: www.delta.com