Delta pilots are protesting across the country amid staff shortages and flight cancellations. Lydia Hu of FOX Business with updates.
Hundreds of out-of-service Delta Air Lines pilots have joined picket lines at airports across the country on Thursday to fight for better pay, retirement, job protection and better schedules.
The fight, however, comes at a time when the entire industry is already facing staff shortages, including pilots, as well as weather and air traffic control limitations, which is causing an attack. of cancellations and delays.
However, out-of-service pilots lined up at several Delta centers, from Los Angeles to New York, to protest protracted contract negotiations, according to the Airline Pilots Association, which represents 13,900 Delta pilots.
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Flight attendants also show solidarity with them, according to Sara Nelson, president of the CWA International Flight Assistants Association.
Delta Air Lines pilots picket at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, on June 30th. (Sumner Park / Fox News)
“Flight attendants are on the side of Delta pilots as they picket for a fair contract. Flight attendants are getting organized because we also want the right to negotiate a contract,” Nelson told FOX Business. “For too long Delta pilots have essentially had to negotiate for all Delta workers. It’s time for that to change.”
Delta pilots have not negotiated a new contract since 2016, meaning they are “flying under labor standards and payment rates negotiated more than six years ago,” ALPA said in an open letter released this week .
Pilots hold signs calling for a “sector leader” contract. They demand better pay, retirement, job protection and pilot schedules.
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Earlier this month, ALPA issued an open letter to Delta Air Lines customers, saying its members empathized with passengers whose flights were delayed or canceled, and blamed Delta management. The union said Delta has scheduled more flights than it has pilots to fly and the pilots were working record overtime.
Delta Air Lines pilots picket at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, on June 30th. (Sumner Park / Fox News)
In its most recent letter, ALPA stated that the company “canceled more flights than any other major airline during Memorial Day weekend.”
Captain Jason Ambrosi, chairman of the Delta Master Executive Council, which is a unit of the Airline Pilots Association, is concerned about disruptions during the Independence Day holiday weekend.
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“The perfect storm is occurring. Demand has returned and pilots are setting a record for overtime, but they are still seeing our customers get stranded and their holiday plans ruined,” he said. “Unfortunately, these problems have not caused a greater urgency on the part of management to resolve our issues at the negotiating table.”
Delta Air Lines told FOX Business that the company, ALPA and a representative of the National Mediation Board resumed mediation contract negotiations earlier this year. Negotiations had been stalled for two years due to the pandemic.
“Our goal remains to continue to offer Delta pilots an industry-leading global contract with the best compensation based on pay, retirement, work rules and profit sharing,” Delta said. “We are also committed to ensuring that the language of the contract endorses our ability to execute a world-class operation, maintain a solid balance sheet and invest in our business for both our customers and employees.”
Delta Air Lines pilots picket at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, on June 30th. (Sumner Park / Fox News)
Still, Ambrosi is asking Delta to acknowledge how much the pilots have done for the company over the past few years and wants the new contract to reflect that.
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“We helped our airline recover by flying record amounts of overtime and spending more time away from our families than ever before to take our customers safely to their destinations,” he said. “It’s time for management to recognize our contributions. If Delta can invest billions in foreign airlines and its subsidiaries, it must invest similarly in its pilots.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.