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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (44030)	12/5/2000 5:00:35 PM
From: pater tenebrarum	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

i think it's especially bullish for MOT, which supplies Apple's chips...i'm tempted to buy me some in the a/h to test the theory. i guess warnings can't shake the euphoria now though...only when the next tidal wave of warnings hits will people get nervous again....when it becomes obvious that the funk is more than temporary.

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (44030)	12/5/2000 5:02:50 PM
From: patron_anejo_por_favor	Respond to of 436258

Salary pressures have abated! No more employment inflation! Party on, doods!<G> dailynews.yahoo.com Tuesday December 5 4:25 PM ET Delta Cuts Flights, Seeks Restraint on Pilots By Simon Hirschfeld NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE:DAL - news), the No. 3 U.S. airline, on Tuesday said it would seek a court order to prevent an ongoing slowdown by its pilots, who are in contract talks, and cut its daily flight schedule by 100 to 125 flights a day as some pilots refuse overtime flying. The actions ``are intended to give absolute assurances to customers of the reliability of Delta's schedule,'' Leo Mullin, chairman and chief executive of the Atlanta-based airline, said in a conference call Tuesday. Since mid-November, prior to the Thanksgiving holiday travel period, pilot requests for voluntary overtime assignments have dropped dramatically, Delta said, as some pilots employ a pressure technique used last summer by pilots at UAL Corp.'s (NYSE:UAL - news) United Airlines. A summer of delays and cancellations as pilots refused overtime at United, the world's largest airline, was followed by a contract that put the United pilots on top of the industry wage scale. All major airlines build their schedules around the assumption of overtime flying by their pilots. Mullin said pilot negotiations remain on track. The two sides jointly requested federal mediation, which officially began Dec. 1, although mediators have not yet sat in on talks. Although talks have continued for more than a year, the two sides first exchanged comprehensive wage proposals in October. Court Filing Includes Individual Pilots Delta said it filed on Tuesday a request before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, in Atlanta, for a temporary restraining order against the Air Line Pilots Association (news - web sites), which represents Delta's 9,400 pilots, and against 49 individual Delta pilots. The company said it later will ask for a preliminary injunction to remain in effect throughout the contract talks. Delta claims to have evidence that the individual pilots contributed to encouraging other pilots in a concerted action to slow operations. Pilots may refuse overtime, but a concerted effort to do so violates the National Railway Labor Act. Although the union has discouraged members from a concerted effort to refuse overtime, ``we don't think their actions were sufficient in this regard,'' Mullin said. Delta expects a hearing Wednesday in the case. ALPA repeated Tuesday that it opposes concerted actions by pilots, and said ``management has the ability to attribute any cancellation to crew to crew shortages, be it due to weather, mechanical problems or business conditions.'' The union said it would ``not let this return to a confrontational management style detract from our focus on obtaining an industry leading contract for Delta pilots.'' ALPA said its attorneys were still reviewing the lawsuit and could not comment on it directly. Overtime Requests Nosedive Pilot requests for overtime flying have been 60 to 70 percent below typical levels for November, and requests look to be 80 percent below normal for December, Mullin said. Delta canceled 375 flights due to low pilot availability for the entire month of November, but canceled 386 for those reasons during Dec. 1-3. The 100 to 125 flights to be cut represent a 3 to 5 percent reduction of Delta's daily schedule of 2,700 flights. Lost revenue as a result of the pilot slowdown has so far been minimal, measured in the ``low tens of millions,'' Mullin said. Delta had $4.35 billion in revenue in its most recent fiscal quarter, ended in September. But the actions announced Tuesday are intended to prevent customers from ``booking away'' to other airlines as they fear unreliability, which afflicted United during the summer. Delta's on-time performance, previously among the best in the industry, dropped to 8th or 9th for November, Mullin said. Delta shares gained $1-5/16, to $48-11/16, on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites), amid generally buoyant markets Tuesday.