Delta pilots agree to enter negotiations with management ATLANTA (AP) =97 The Delta Air Lines pilots union said Friday it will enter= =20 negotiations with the airline over the company's proposal to cut pilot=20 wages as part of an effort to reduce costs. The decision was made after=20 three days of Air Line Pilots Association meetings wrapped up Thursday=20 night. A union memo did not say what its strategy will be during=20 negotiations or what its position will be on the requested concessions. In= =20 April, Delta said it wanted to cut pilots' hourly wages by 22 percent,=20 cancel pay raises due over the next year and reduce some benefits. Delta=20 also wants to rescind a 4.5 percent raise its pilots received May 1 and a=20 similar raise due next May. A union finance committee has said it doesn't=20 support the company's proposal. Delta's pilots are some of the highest paid= =20 in the industry =97 some veterans make as much as $250,000 a year, analysts= =20 say. Delta, which lost $1.3 billion last year and $466 million in the first= =20 quarter this year, has said it needs to cut costs to survive and has=20 targeted pilots wages as part of that effort. Atlanta-based Delta, the=20 nation's third-largest airline, has reduced its work force by 16,000 since= =20 the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It also has furloughed hundreds of=20 pilots. On Friday, the Delta pilots union said it will file a grievance next week=20 protesting the continued furlough of pilots, particularly ones who were=20 were furloughed because of the Iraq war. The grievance will assert that the= =20 continued furlough of these pilots is no longer justified by the effects of= =20 the war and other factors. James Owers, a Georgia State University=20 professor who specializes in corporate restructuring, said the wage cuts=20 are important for Delta if it wants to avoid the same fate of rivals US=20 Airways and United, which both filed for bankruptcy. "It's crucial because= =20 they now have competitors on all most all of their routes domestically with= =20 dramatically lower cost structures," Owers said. "Without concessions,=20 Delta has a future that would be distressingly similar to US Airways and=20 United." *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.carib-link.net/naparima/naps.html TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************