DELTA EXECUTIVES AND THE TRUTH

GIL WEST TELLS HALF OF THE TRUTH ALMOST ALL OF THE TIME!
SENIOR VICE-PRES OF ACS ENJOYS SPINNING A GOOD TALE.


One of the highlights of our week at Delta Air Lines is waiting for Gil West’s weekly update. Actually, we have to give him some credit for writing personal expressions of gratitude and thanks for the work many of our dedicated professionals perform. The personal notes about ‘above and beyond’ efforts by employees are a nice touch and show some degree of appreciation.

However, we’re not too happy about the accuracy of many other ‘facts’ presented by our ACS leader. Gil has a problem with telling the whole story. He enjoys expressing half of the truth most of the time.

What do we mean by that? In Gil’s February 4th update when talking about ‘Cross-Fleeting’, Gil stated that “until representation is resolved, we are forced to keep our workforces separated and that limits our ability to help work each other’s flights. That means that when cross-fleeting starts up in April, we’ll have to do additional hiring in some stations when in fact we already have enough pre-merger Northwest and Delta people on the team to work the flights.”

Come on Gil you are only telling half of the story. Why aren’t you letting Northwest employees work Delta planes now in cities that don’t have below wing Delta employees? Cities like; SFO, LAS, PDX, SEA, DEN, PHX and many, many more? There is no legal reason why this can’t be happening right now and the IAM has stated publicly that their members at Northwest are willing and ready to take on all of the work that you can give them.

Why would Delta continue to use outside vendors to do the work that new Delta personnel are ready to do right now?

Delta employees are working Northwest planes in cities where there is no below wing Northwest employees like SLC, so what gives, Gil? This seems like an extraordinary waste of money and expertise. Could it be that Gil and Delta executives don’t want Northwest personnel talking to above winged Delta employees about how good Northwest benefits, insurance, vacation and sick time are under the umbrella of IAM representation?

Perhaps having Delta and Northwest personnel comparing their work environment at this juncture in our evolution to become one wouldn’t be conducive to keeping out the unions at Delta Air Lines? Could that be the reason for the separation, Gil, or do you have a better explanation that you might share with us during your next weekly update?

Gil, let us remind you of something you said in your July 30th weekly update; you stated, “I want to reassure you that we plan to continue leveraging Delta talent in positions where we already do so and we have no plans to pursue any additional outsourcing at this time. In fact, despite schedule pull-downs, we’re currently focused on opportunities to [insource] in stations where it makes good business sense.”

Wow! What’s going on right now in Delta’s world doesn’t sound a whole lot like the words you shared with us just a few months ago. Do you have a good explanation for the incongruities, Gil? Or do you count on us not paying attention to your words?

Why haven’t you begun to dismiss DGS and other outside contractors in our newly acquired NW stations like you did in SLC?

Could it be that your promise of in sourcing was nothing more than empty words meant to temporarily satisfy and soothe worried employees? What’s the whole truth Gil, or don’t you even know?