Labor Union Blog

Late Tuesday Delta told workers that it plans to offer a voluntary buyout in an attempt to cut 2000 jobs. The announcement comes on the heels of oil rising above $111 a barrel. According to the airline pilots will not be impacted by the buyout. On Monday, Delta pilots told the airline that discussions concerning the merger of seniority lists with Northwest Airlines had collapsed. Jesse Russell has more on this aspect of the story.

As Delta and Northwest Airlines continue to move toward a merger the pilots for the two companies had been in discussions over how to best combine seniority lists. Those discussions ended on Monday with no resolution between the two sides. The announcement was made when Delta’s division of the Air Line Pilots Association sent a letter to members saying that discussions with Northwest’s pilots had broken off. Northwest and Delta had hoped for a smooth merger of the seniority lists and in order to encourage the pilots offered stock options and a voting seat on the board. It is unknown how the collapse of discussions will impact those offers. Seniority determines which pilots fly on which plane, increases job security, and dictates the pay level. Northwest has more senior pilots then Delta.