EXECUTIVE ROADSHOW VISITS SLC

ANDERSON WOWS OVERFLOW CROWD WITH QUALIFIED PROMISES
TIM MAPES, VP OF MARKETING, INSERTS FOOT IN OWN MOUTH

Not too long ago one of our ex-CEO’s, Leo Mullin, was described by a very astute Delta employee as an individual wholly lacking in people skills or personality. He reminded many of a marauding, soulless shark with dark, dead eyes slowly working his way through the throngs of Delta people looking for a quick meal to feast on.

Not Richard Anderson. He has charm, we’ll give him that. He can work a crowd and knows how to qualify a promise of future coming ‘rewards’. We acknowledge his personnel skills as well as his soft yet effective oratory prose. Some of us in the room on this day also noticed that every statement was preceded by a legal hedge. Before each promise of future enhancements he would dodge a bit with; I think that….we are hoping for….we are looking at… or," we don’t want to write a hot check..”

The main talking point of the executive travel team seems to be the theme that the Delta package when looked upon in its entirety exceeds the benefits and pay that Northwest people enjoy. After each posed question, especially those that involved IAM related union comparisons, Tim Mapes and Richard Anderson repeated almost precisely the same answer.

Mr. Anderson stated that, “our benefits and pay outshine those of Northwest’s”. When pressed with specifics concerning sick time, OJI treatment and medical costs, answers were not forthcoming. Mr. Anderson is convinced that Northwest people will prefer life at Delta without a contract rather than the life they now currently enjoy under an IAM umbrella of protection, guaranteed pay and benefits with backing and strength.

There is an almost surreal nature within the entourage that accompanies Richard and they do his bidding unconditionally. Tim Mapes, Vice President of Marketing was asked about the equity disbursement that is coming the day after the close of the merger. He was questioned about why over two thirds of the money was going to the 700 executives and the 12,000 pilots and only one third of the shares were being allocated to the rest of us (62,000). Someone noted that it might have something to do with the fact they have contracts and we don’t.

Tim was adamant that no executive at Delta has a contract. He is wrong and a cursory review of the internet would have supplied him with the correct answer. Many of us within the union campaign have had the opportunity to see and look over the terms of Mr. Anderson and Mr. Bastian’s contracts. They exist and they are substantial.

We don’t blame our executives for looking after their own self interests by having iron-clad contracts and don’t understand why they are so vigorously opposing our efforts to obtain the same protection and calming knowledge that comes from knowing what our pay and benefits will be over a fixed period of time.

The promises and grand descriptions of our future that Mr. Anderson shared with SLC employees today are hopeful and cause all to feel better about our prognosis and our company’s health but we can see the danger of leaving ourselves exposed and undervalued.

Platitudes and promises only fill the hearts and minds with joy; they don’t feed our families or protect us from cold, Delta controlled contractual companies who oversee our medical, sick time and OJI needs. We must not be fooled or lulled into a false sense of comfort from soothing words supplied by a skilled and talented wordsmith.

Richard Anderson said it best. He stated that, “this is the most difficult economic time of our lives; A precarious time for consumer demand.”


Without the protection of a contract, we leave ourselves exposed to these perilous times and will be the ones sacrificed if the economy worsens. It simply makes sense to organize, unionize and protect our position, money and families.