Grass Roots Effort Off and Running

The grass roots effort to fend off US Air's hostile bid for Delta Air Lines is off and running. Thousands of Delta Employees worldwide can be seen wearing their "Keep Delta My Delta" buttons and wrist bands, but it doesn't stop there. Soon busses in Atlanta that serve as transportation from Hartsfield International Airport will also express the company's desire to remain a stand alone carrier as they emerge from bankruptcy early next year. While morale at Delta has been up and down since filing for Chapter 11 in September of 2005, it's clear from the overwhelming support from employee groups that the pride of Delta Air Lines is alive and well. One employee said "I will not sit by and let US Air reap the benefits for my hard work and sacrifice - not on my watch. That kind of passion has united Delta emplyoees across the board. Even Delta's pilots have been vocal in support of the company's stand alone plan.

The two sides were at odds earlier this year over Delta's effort to implement a second round of pay cuts but US Airways' $8.9 billion bid to buy Delta has put Delta management and its pilots union on the same side again in opposing the unsolicited offer. "We have a common threat from outside Delta Air Lines," the chairman of the pilots union's executive committee, Lee Moak, said Wednesday. Moak told fellow pilots in a memo Tuesday that "should this merger be as misguided and as poor an idea as I currently believe it to be, then I will deploy every available resource to stop it."

Today Delta reported that it narrowed its loss in October to $88 million which equates to 45 cents a share in the 31-day period and was smaller than its loss of $301 million for the same month last year. Excluding reorganization items, Delta said its latest loss was $64 million and shows further evidence that their plan is working.