SECRET PAY RAISES REVEALED
MANAGEMENT PROSPERED WHILE EMPLOYEES SUFFERED



Beginning January 1st 2005, pay cuts became a reality for all frontline employees at Delta Air Lines. As I am sure you all remember, the first of two pay cuts was administered across the board; a 10% reduction. The second pay reduction went into effect on Nov. 1, 2005. This pay reduction ranged from an additional 7% to as much as 25% (disclosure statement to bankruptcy court) for all non-pilot employees. For most ACS employees, the total pay cut was a little over 19%.

These pay losses were an extraordinarily difficult financial strain on most employees and coupled with the simultaneous increase in medical premiums and loss of sick time, had a cumulated effect of slashing our actual pay by approximately one third.

The only soothing part of this financial tragedy was knowing that our Management team had suffered equally in pay reductions, or at least that is what they had lead us to believe.

Delta reported in its Disclosure Statement to the bankruptcy court that “Delta’s officers and other management personnel have fully participated in Delta’s cost reductions initiatives…..Delta’s officers and other management employees received a 10% pay cut effective January 1, 2005. Effective November 1, 2005, Delta’s non-officer management employees took a further 9% pay cut...” (pg. 35)

It all sounds fair until you delve into the process just a little bit deeper. Rumors have circulated for months, and recently, internal management sources have stepped forward with disturbing revelations about secret management pay “adjustments.”

Independent sources have revealed that prior to the initial 10% pay cut, a large percentage of managers received pay increases of around 5%. This helped mitigate their pay losses while making it appear they were fully participating in the process. Additionally, shortly after the initial 10% pay cut went into effect, all supervisors received 40% of their 10% pay reduction back, roughly equaling what their superiors received prior to the initial pay cuts.

In July of 2006 additional management staffing reductions took place. I’m sure all of you recall that assessments were done on all management across the board. The bottom 25% supposedly lost their jobs. The middle 50% was able to retain employment with Delta but many were stepped out of positions that were no longer retained and returned to departments that had available openings.

Many of the top 25% were given an additional “retention” pay increase. These retention raises varied in size and not all managers received them but it appears that much of our middle management team has fared fairly well during bankruptcy. It would be interesting to see how many of them are actually making pre-bankruptcy pay and to what extent the existence of these pay adjustments were shared with the Creditors’ Committee, or for that matter, the bankruptcy court, during Delta’s recent joint Disclosure Statement filing with the court.

I wonder if our Management team has seen fit to discuss any of these “stealth” pay raises with any of you at the VRT? Where is the good faith we are supposedly building between each other and how can we possibly trust them in the future now that we’ve found out that our “shared sacrifice” wasn’t mutually painful or even shared?

Other Airlines who have IAM union representation, also took pay cuts and benefit reductions after difficult negotiations. The difference is that IAM was watching out for their members. IAM got stipulations because of their concessions from the companies that should management receive monies during bankruptcy, union members would also share in the joy. Had raises been given out to management at these IAM represented airlines the union would have discovered and disclosed it to their members. Nothing would have been secret and sly.

Union membership has value. You receive much from the little that is asked of you in the way of dues. Wouldn’t you have liked to know about these management pay increases and had somebody in your corner making sure your interests were being addressed and taken care of? Let’s end this elitist, selfish management reign and restore balance and fairness by unionizing.