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ATLANTA (AP) ― The head of Delta's pilots union suggested Monday that he is open to arbitration with Northwest pilots over how to merge their seniority lists. The two sides failed to reach a pact before their airlines agreed to combine last week.

In a letter to fellow pilots Monday, Lee Moak, the chairman of the executive committee at Delta's pilots union, said union leaders are committed to the idea that seniority integration should be accomplished after negotiation of a single joint contract and, if necessary, "expedited arbitration to be completed before closing of a corporate transaction."

The two carriers tried and failed to get a pilot seniority integration deal in advance of their combination announcement.

Before Delta's April 14 announcement that it was acquiring Northwest, Moak had said he opposed binding arbitration.

The Northwest pilots union has said repeatedly that it supports arbitration, though that was before Delta's pilots cut a deal with management days before the merger announcement to give them a voting board seat, future pay raises and an equity stake in the combined airline. Delta's pilots union agreed to make changes to the pilot contract that give management more flexibility. Rank-and-file Delta pilots must ratify the agreement.

That agreement does not cover Northwest pilots.

Moak and a spokesman for Northwest's pilots union could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

Seniority is important for pilots because those at the top of the list get first choice on vacations, the best routes and the bigger planes that they get paid more for flying. It's also the reason pilots don't often leave to go work for another airline.

Arbitration can be a long, contentious process.

The conventional wisdom has been that arbitration might not be desirable for Delta's pilots union because of concern that younger Delta pilots might lose the seniority they obtained after the mass exodus of older pilots ahead of Delta's bankruptcy filing in 2005. The airline emerged from Chapter 11 protection last April.

It's not clear why Delta's pilots union supports arbitration now when it didn't before.

Moak also said in his letter that there have been a "number of ugly rumors, innuendo and factually inaccurate stories" that mischaracterize the Delta pilot leaders' motives in crafting the contract revision agreement with management.

Moak did not specify in his letter what reports he was talking about.

"While we all recognize that there are two sides to every story, an extended tit for tat exchange is counterproductive and only serves to pit pilots against one another, a tactic that has traditionally been reserved for airline management," Moak wrote. "That type of response will get us no closer to our goal of a single unified pilot group in the merged airline."

Moak did say that Delta's pilots union hopes to reach a joint agreement with Northwest's pilots to take effect on the closing of the combination transaction that provides "immediate parity in rates of pay." He said the union also wants a "fair and equitable integrated seniority list to take effect on the effective date of the new joint agreement."

Delta Air Lines Inc.'s stock-swap deal to acquire Northwest Airlines Corp., if approved by regulators and shareholders, would create the world's biggest carrier. Investors have sent shares of both airlines down sharply since the deal was announced.

Delta shares fell 55 cents, or 6.3 percent, to close at $8.20 on Monday, while Northwest shares fell 63 cents, or 6.5 percent, to close at $9.06.

 

 

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