THE CHANGING WINDS

COUNTRY FED UP WITH MANAGEMENT COMPENSATION
UNIONS POISED TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD

The country is facing an economic crisis of enormous proportions and steps have been taken to shore up the financial and lending institutions of our nation and the world.

However, recent news reports have indicated that CEO and Corporate bonuses have been lavished upon these very same institutions that received public monies. A full accounting of the first 350 billion of the bail-out package is not complete and funds have gone missing or not been followed or accounted for accurately or properly.

The well heeled and important feel entitled to this indulgence and suffer no remorse for self-indulgent personal compensation. The millions who have lost their jobs because of Corporate America’s excesses and corruption are in no mood for any more of the same bad actions and the sword of justice and accountability will swing soon enough.

In the mean time our Delta management team seems to be swimming in money and their Holiday season was made better with stock compensation cash-outs into the millions.

In combining our two great airlines we have overnight created the largest airline in the world. Being big has its advantages and there are certainly pluses in the combination. However, Delta has also become the most indebted airline in the world, owing a combined 27 billion dollars. This astronomical number does not include the underfunded portion of the two frozen pension programs that are short an additional 15 billion dollars.

These huge amounts of debt are bad enough and will hamper Delta’s efforts to grow and become stable in the future. The happy talk coming from our outsider Delta leadership team hides a growing worry among those of us who have weathered all the economic storms of the past — and we know that steps will have to be taken to mitigate these enormous obligations.

Getting rid of our pensions is certainly something that must be on the minds of our leaders. Jettisoning employees is a step that our management team is indulged in right now as well as manipulating employee opinion concerning our future and who will be here to survive and perhaps enjoy it.

The excessive gluttony of our current outsider leadership team worries all of us who have made Delta and Northwest a lifetime career. Taking as much from the meat of this airline and increasing their own personal portfolios is a sign that these millionaires will soon depart for their next great adventure.

These same leaders who most probably have no intention of outlasting the new carpet in their recently decorated offices have no problem in ending all of our hopes for a lasting and vital career. They don’t want us to unionize because they know that allows us more permanency and ability to carve up the ‘economic pie’ more equitably.

A fair and just working environment with union representation lessens the ability of our current management team to take what they please with little or no oversight. Maneuvering in the shadows is more comfortable for those who don’t want employees empowered and aware. Having employees knowing and understanding the rich rewards that our leaders self-prescribed is a potential embarrassment that they would prefer remain hidden.

Our future is uncertain unless we band together and unionize. Our leadership team will finish cashing out soon enough; those managers left behind will not get rich unless they take it from us. Will we let them win at our expense and let the health and future of our airline suffer?

We plan on making sure that doesn’t happen. Join us – sign an IAM card and vote Union Yes!