Several of the recent Delta pilot-bashing “Free Speech” writers only confirmed what my husband and I already knew. Delta Airlines has been successful in at least ONE area: that of creating class warfare amongst its own employees.
I’ve been a flight attendant for 32 years and my husband was a pilot who had no choice but to retire early in order to salvage some of the pension he had earned after 27 years.
We both find it interesting that so many Delta employees hold the pilots responsible for the livelihood of every Delta worker.
My paychecks have always been signed by management, not a pilot. Some of you apparently aren’t going to be happy unless our pilots are making the same wages as a newly hired bag loader.
The present hourly pay for a Southwest Airlines B-737 captain flying between two cities in Texas is more than the proposed pay scale for a Delta captain flying a wide-body jet to Europe, Japan, or South America. Perhaps if Delta wants to be like the low-cost airlines, they should compensate accordingly.
Our last management team set themselves up with guaranteed pensions, bought over two billion dollars worth of Delta stock that is now worthless, and bet the airline’s future on cramped regional jets that no one even likes unless you’re 5-feet-2 and 95 pounds.
Present management has outsourced thousands of jobs, slashed wages and benefits, and many of us believe it’s only a matter of time before our pensions are terminated. And my fellow Delta employees are mad at the pilots? You should be out in force supporting them.
My husband loved flying and like so many pilots, retired reluctantly. Despite the difficulties at Delta, I still like my job and am hoping for the best. While we certainly understand that the airline industry has changed, we have been disconcerted with some of Delta’s actions.
And one of those is the continual pitting of Delta employees against the pilots. And there are more than a few of you who have fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.
The pilots have watched Delta management make bad decisions for years and should not be expected to be Delta’s ATM. You’re all wrong if you think the pilots will take never-ending pay cuts just to fly a big jet. In the end, there’s something called “self esteem” as well as the “future” to be considered.
Every copilot my husband flew with before he retired was looking for something else, not necessarily in the flying sector. They’re a very smart group, many of whom have the ability to make more elsewhere than flying at Delta’s new pay scales with no retirement plan.
Hopefully, their wives will still get to stay home with the children, a fact that seems to annoy some of you.
There have been some sarcastic, even gleeful comments in “Free Speech” concerning pilots’ wives needing to “get a job.” I believe it’s fortunate that some of them have been able to be at home raising kids and it’s sad that anyone would begrudge that.
So, to all you pilot-bashers out there, I say that the pilots’ responsibility is to their own families and future, not yours. Management’s getting paid plenty to save the airline. And they’re not going to do it by continually cutting pilot salaries, then slashing fares.
This is a stressful time for everyone at Delta. To my fellow employees, I suggest we support the pilots. Try giving them the “thumbs up” instead of the finger.
Linda Conley
Tyrone, Ga.