Delta Airlines 2005 Annual Report Download - page 12

Table of Contents
of this 30-day period, the parties may engage in "self help," unless the President of the United States appoints a Presidential
Emergency Board ("PEB") to investigate and report on the dispute. The appointment of a PEB maintains the "status quo" for an
additional 60 days. If the parties do not reach agreement during this period, the parties may then engage in "self help." "Self help"
includes, among other things, a strike by the union or the imposition of proposed changes to the collective bargaining agreement by
the airline. Congress and the President have the authority to prevent "self help" by enacting legislation which, among other things,
imposes a settlement on the parties.
Collective Bargaining
At December 31, 2005, we had a total of approximately 55,700 full-time equivalent employees. Approximately 17% of these
employees are represented by unions. The following table presents certain information concerning the union representation of our
domestic employees.
Approximate Amendable Date
Number of of Collective
Employees Bargaining
Employee Group Represented Union Agreement
Delta Pilots 5,930 Air Line Pilots Association, International December 31, 2009
Delta Flight Superintendents 170 Professional Airline Flight Control Association January 1, 2010
Comair Pilots 1,810 Air Line Pilots Association, International May 21, 2007
Comair Maintenance Employees 550 International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers May 31, 2009
Comair Flight Attendants 1,080 International Brotherhood of Teamsters July 19, 2008
We have been and continue to be in negotiations with the Air Line Pilots Association, International ("ALPA"), the collective
bargaining representative of Delta's pilots, to reduce our pilot labor costs as required under our business plan. Because we were not
able to reach a consensual agreement with ALPA, on November 1, 2005, we filed a motion with the Bankruptcy Court under
Section 1113 of the Bankruptcy Code to reject our collective bargaining agreement with ALPA. In December 2005, we reached an
interim agreement with ALPA, which was approved by the Bankruptcy Court and ratified by Delta's pilots. The interim agreement
provides, among other things, for a reduction in (1) hourly pilot wage rates of 14% and (2) other pilot pay and cost items equivalent to
approximately an additional 1% hourly wage reduction. These reductions became effective December 15, 2005, and remain in effect
until the earlier of (1) our entering into a comprehensive agreement with ALPA on changes to the pilot collective bargaining
agreement; or (2) the time that the neutral panel described below issues its final order as to whether Delta is authorized to reject the
pilot collective bargaining agreement under the legal standards of Section 1113 of the Bankruptcy Code.
The interim agreement provides that Delta and ALPA will seek to negotiate a tentative comprehensive agreement, and establishes
the following time limits for reaching that agreement ("March 2006 time limits"): (1) March 1, 2006, for the parties' negotiating
committees to reach a tentative agreement; (2) March 8, 2006, for approval by the ALPA Master Executive Council; and
(3) March 22, 2006, for pilot ratification. Because the first of the March 2006 time limits was not met, pursuant to our interim
agreement with ALPA, the matter at issue in Delta's Section 1113 motion has been submitted to a mutually agreed upon, neutral panel
of three experts in airline labor matters for a binding decision on that issue. The interim agreement provides that the panel's decision
must be issued no later than 45 days after the failure to meet the applicable March 2006 time limit, which is April 15, 2006. We cannot
predict the outcome of the neutral panel's decision as to whether or not we would be authorized to reject the collective bargaining
agreement. 7