Maybe the US is starting to get it. You can't get $ 250,000 for flying a plane when someone will do it for $ 10,000.
Ref: outsourcing
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Delta, pilots agree to full $1B reductions
By Todd Pack
Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted October 28 2004, 11:34 AM EDT
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ON THE WEB
Delta Air Lines' stock quote
TENTATIVE DELTA DEAL
WHAT DELTA WANTED: The airline sought $1 billion in concessions from pilots union.
UNION AGREEMENT: Union and company officials are mum on specifics of tentative deal. The pilots offered up to $705 million in savings previously. Next step: Deal must be ratified by rank-and-file pilots, which could take several days.
EMPLOYEES: Delta has more than 60,000 employees -- including 7,000 pilots. There are more than 1,200 Orlando-based workers, although the carrier has announced plans to close its flight-attendant base here in January.
FINANCIAL PICTURE: Airline has lost $3 billion since the start of the year -- nearly as much as the airline lost in all of 2001, 2002 and 2003. It has more than $20 billion in debt. Company executives say the carrier needs to slash expenses $5 billion a year by 2006, including cuts of 7,000 jobs, potential pay cuts of 10 percent and concessions from pilots.
Delta's pilots union said today that it has tentatively agreed to the full $1 billion in wage and benefit reductions the airline said it needs to help it avoid bankruptcy.
The agreement was reached late Wednesday, but no details were released.
Union leader John Malone said in a message to pilots this morning that "it pained me to see such drastic changes made to almost every section of our contract." He said the concessions "are significant and will affect each of us and our families."
The airline has said its pilot salaries, which are among the highest in the industry, make its operating costs too high to make money on cheaper fares in markets where the airline competes with low-fare carriers such as Southwest.
Malone said the Air Line Pilots Association believes that "immediate relief was necessary to prevent a bankruptcy filing in light of the company's economic condition." Delta has lost about $3 billion since the first of the year, a sum equal to its combined losses for 2001, 2002 and 2003.
sun-sentinel.com
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Of course, expand this epiphany into most corners of the US labour pool and you've got salvation...maybe. I pick on the US but of course Canada and the European west must pay attention also.
Regards
C |
