This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ IN AMERICA - NOMINATED FOR 6 INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS IN AMERICA has audiences across the country moved by its emotional power. This Holiday season, share the experience of this extraordinary film with everyone you are thankful to have in your life. Ebert & Roeper give IN AMERICA "Two Thumbs Way Up!" Watch the trailer at: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/inamerica \----------------------------------------------------------/ Delta and Pilots Start Talks on Concessions December 5, 2003 By MICHELINE MAYNARD Delta Air Lines and its pilots union have begun negotiating on wage and benefit concessions, and analysts are optimistic that an agreement can eventually be reached because of new leadership on both sides. The Air Line Pilots Association confirmed reports yesterday that it had offered the company a 9 percent cut in pilots' wages as well as modest reductions in benefits and changes in work rules as part of a new contract that would run until 2008. The offer was made on Nov. 13 and disclosed in an electronic message sent to Delta's 8,500 pilots on Wednesday. The electronic message was reported yesterday in The Wall Street Journal and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The message coincided with a meeting held by pilots with Gerald Grinstein, who will become Delta's chief executive on Jan. 1, succeeding Leo F. Mullin, who announced last week that he would step aside. Although the pilots' offer came before Mr. Mullin's announcement, his departure had, in part, been linked to frosty relations with the pilots union, with which the company has been sparring for months in the wake of concessions granted by unions at other airlines. A series of Delta's competitors, including American, United and US Airways, have been able to win cutbacks from their unions over the last year, allowing them to significantly reduce their labor rates below those at Delta, whose pilots are the highest paid in the industry and make up a third of its labor costs. United and US Airways got their reductions after filing for bankruptcy protection, a course American had threatened if its unions did not agree to concessions. Delta's pilots, whose contract expires in 2005, are under no obligation to even talk to the company until next summer. But Mr. Grinstein, a Delta director who once ran Western Airlines, has made resolving the conflict with the pilots a priority. And industry analysts said his appointment offered an opportunity to jump-start the negotiations. "He's signaling, 'You can talk to me. We can get to something,' " said Gary Chaison, professor for industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. Mr. Grinstein is arriving just weeks after the pilots union elected its own new leadership, led by John Malone, a captain based in Dallas. New faces can give both sides the chance to move past old disagreements, Professor Chaison said. "It all becomes so highly personalized," he said, recalling the animosity airline unions felt for Frank A. Lorenzo, the chief executive of Texas Air, in the 1980's. Mr. Lorenzo declared bankruptcy at Continental Airlines, shut down the carrier and then reopened it with far fewer jobs that paid much less. Bankruptcy laws have since been changed to prevent such reductions. A pilots union spokeswoman, Karen Miller, agreed that the sides were facing a new opportunity. But she said the meeting with Mr. Grinstein was simply an introductory session. "If he's going to change the way business is being done, we haven't seen that," she said. No bargaining sessions are scheduled. The pilots' offer came in response to a proposal Delta made in October. The pilots said they would accept a 9 percent cut in wages and give up a 4.5 percent raise planned for next May. Further, the pilots want their contract extended for three years, through 2008. The pay cut would be restored during that period. While the offer was symbolic, the proposed cuts are far less than the 30 percent reduction in pay that Delta is seeking from its pilots, according to an outline released by the union. But the company offered to extend the pilots' contract for an additional year. In the electronic message, the pilots insisted that the two sides' offers did not mean an eventual deal would be somewhere in the middle. In fact, the union said it did not think that "our pilot costs must be aligned with the pilot costs at restructured or bankrupt airlines for our company to be profitable." But the union message added, "We are aware of what is necessary to ensure Delta's continued access to the capital markets and the corporation's long-term success based on an overall corporate cost structure that is competitive within the industry." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/05/business/05air.html?ex=1071633382&ei=1&en=d5a6fa010ebc00d0 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! 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