As pilots picketed outside, company executives inside Terminal 2 were honoring a historic Boeing 767-200 jet bought more than 23 years ago by workers when Delta first faced financial hardships. The plane was in Salt Lake as part of a 10-city tour before it is officially retired and returned to Atlanta, where it will become a museum exhibit.
The divergent events paint a contrasting picture of an airline that is struggling through bankruptcy proceedings and battles with its employee unions, even as it presents a business-as-usual front for customers and other longtime workers who wanted to celebrate the widebody aircraft.
About 75 pilots paraded outside the international arrivals building, vowing to strike if negotiators for the pilots union and company can't reach a deal on new concessions and Delta is allowed to impose more than $300 million in cuts unilaterally.
"If they are successful at rejecting our contract through the Chapter 11 process, then we will strike," said Ed Thiel, chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association's Council 81 in Salt Lake.
Negotiators have until Wednesday to hammer out an agreement. If talks fail, a three-person arbitration panel will decide Delta's request to reject the contract. The company and pilots are under pressure to reach common ground. They agree that a strike would kill Delta.
Some travelers were surprised by the sight of picketing pilots hoisting signs that said "our company, our contract," "career employees, turnstile management" and "it's not the cost of fuel, it's the lack of leadership."
"I guess you don't think of pilots being in a union. It's certainly rare to see gentlemen wearing caps and suits marching in circles," said Mike Tambling of Lexington, S.C., who flew on Delta into Salt Lake with his wife, Bernie, to ski for a week.
"We are for the pilots," Bernie Tambling said. "I appreciate pilots or anybody who will help the companies they work for survive. But there comes a point when they need to take care of their families."
The picketing coincided with Delta's effort to share with employees and others the final flights of The Spirit of Delta. The $30 million purchase "was so unique and such a great gesture. It was purely grass-roots. No one from management was involved." said Paul Douglas, a Delta reservations agent who was waiting to board the jet for a farewell flight over Salt Lake.
As Delta and its pilots now work to find common ground on a labor agreement, it is unlikely that pilots would strike immediately if negotiations don't produce a new pact on Wednesday. Arbitrators will hear arguments by pilots and the company, starting on March 13 and must rule in 45 days.
"What pilots are doing today is informational picketing. It's not causing any disruption to our service. Customers continue to book with confidence," Delta spokesman Anthony Black said.
Pilots have been working under an interim pay-cut deal with management, while negotiators try to work out a long-term agreement. The deal ratified in December calls for a 14 percent hourly wage cut and other reductions that amount to another 1 percent in salary reductions.
Still on the table is the pilot's pension plan, which Delta wants to terminate. The company has stopped funding the plan.
Delta has 6,000 pilots, including about 600 pilots based in the Salt Lake area, where it operates its third-biggest hub. The nation's third-biggest carrier filed for bankruptcy in September.
pbeebe@sltrib.com
