Delta pilots union files grievance over furloughs By Alexander Coolidge Post staff reporter Union officials with the Air Line Pilots Association said they filed a grievance with Delta Air Lines Inc. Wednesday protesting the continued furlough of 250 pilots who have been grounded since the start of the Iraq war. The pilots were put on unpaid leave this spring as air travel slumped at the start of the war under the "force majeure'' clause of the union's contract with the airline, which allows Delta to furlough in extraordinary circumstances. "ALPA asserts the force majeure event which Delta claims justified the continued furlough of pilots no longer exists," said union spokesman Mike Pinho, referring to the end of the fighting in the Middle East. While a four-member arbitration board composed equally of company and union officials first reviews routine grievances, the union said it wants to move the dispute to a five-member panel that has an independent arbitrator on it. Delta has 30 days to respond. Depending on the availability of an arbitrator, union officials say they could have a hearing in about two months and a decision in another two to three months following the hearing. A Delta spokesman couldn't confirm receipt of the grievance on Wednesday but said the airline would review the complaint when it was received. Delta has furloughed 1,310 pilots since the beginning of 2002 amid a major slowdown in air travel that started with the Sept. 11 terror attacks. An arbitrator in February halted at 1,060 the furloughs stemming from the fallout of the travel slump from Sept. 11 and provided a formula for returning pilots back to their jobs. About 100 of 1,000 Delta pilots based at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport have been furloughed. *************************************************** 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 *********************************************************