Anti Merger Rally Brings Employees "Together"

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What Can I do?

The question that many Delta people are asking is "what can I do to show my support for keeping Delta a stand alone carrier."

• Show your support by wearing your Keep Delta My Delta t-shirts, buttons, wrist bands and lanyards - not just at work, Wear them to the grocery store, to church or to the shopping mall.


• Sign the petition. Go to keepdeltamydelta.org and sign the petition. This is not just for Delta employees, your families, friends and even customers are encouraged to sign a petition.


• Write your Senator and Governor.


• Stay informed.

These are just a few ways to show your support. This is just the beginning. As David Scott (D) GA said at Wednesdays rally in Atlanta, Delta must utterly destroy the giant before them as David did some 3000 years ago. US Airways is our modern day giant and we cant back down. It will take all of our indvidual and collective efforts to send Doug Parker a message - That Dellta is not for sale...

Delta rallying cry: 'We are not for sale!

Source: The Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 12/14/06

A raucous crowd of more than 3,000 Delta Air Lines workers alternately cheered, booed, clapped and hissed Wednesday as they loudly expressed opposition to a takeover bid by rival US Airways. Delta employee groups used the nearly two-hour rally to bash Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways and its CEO, Doug Parker, in pointed, personal terms. He was compared to vilified airline raiders Carl Icahn and Frank Lorenzo and even the fictional Gordon Gekko from the movie "Wall Street."

"You have underestimated your opponent!" Delta pilot union chairman Lee Moak thundered at the meeting in a convention hall near the Atlanta airport, which combined the fervor of a tent revival with the pragmatism of a political strategy session. "Go back to the desert of Arizona. Thousands of loyal Delta employees in this room are telling you that Delta is our company and we are not for sale!"
Georgia's U.S. senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, lauded the Delta workers and urged them to back management efforts to preserve Delta's history and independence.

Chambliss said he told Parker in a Washington meeting that he and other members of the Georgia delegation stoutly oppose the deal and plan hearings to pressure the Justice Department to reject it as anti-competitive.
"The proposed deal is a bad deal for Delta and we're opposed to it," Chambliss said to a standing ovation. "It's going to lead to additional mergers that aren't good for the passengers you serve." His argument may have been buttressed by reports Wednesday that United and Continental airlines are talking about a merger. Most analysts say that would be a defensive option to trump the effect of a US Airways-Delta marriage. And AirTran Airways, Atlanta's second-largest carrier behind Delta, said it's pursuing a nearly $290 million buyout of Midwest Airlines despite that carrier's initial rejection. US Airways announced its unsolicited $8.7 billion Delta bid in November, after being rebuffed in earlier private approaches. Delta executives — who did not attend Wednesday's rally — say they want to finish the carrier's Chapter 11 restructuring as an independent company.

But the airline's creditors have a big say in the outcome. They are analyzing the value and other merits of the US Airways offer and will weigh it against a Delta reorganization plan expected to be filed in bankruptcy court as soon as next week. Wednesday's quickly organized rally aimed to prove that opposition goes deeper than top management. Oversized TV screens showed film clips from Delta's humble beginnings as a crop-dusting service, along with commercials through the decades. U.S. Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) praised Delta workers for enduring five years of pay cuts, furloughs and adversity capped by the Chapter 11 filing. He lambasted US Airways for terminating its employee pension plans during its own bankruptcy case, then aiming to take over Delta, which has announced a deal to save its main non-pilot pension plan.
"You're writing the greatest recovery story in the history of American business," Scott told the Delta workers. Scott called US Airways executives "vultures" for attempting to profit from the sacrifices of Delta workers, and said the proposed merger was "anti-competitive and anti-American."

US Airways has said it would adopt the Delta name if the merger went through but hasn't said where the combined company would be based. Many experts consider Tempe the likely choice since Parker and his lieutenants would run the airline. They previously ran Tempe-based America West Airlines, which merged with the larger US Airways and adopted its name in 2005. "How can Atlanta be Atlanta without Delta?" said 58-year-old Delta retiree Carol Kirkland, who attended the rally. "Tempe, Arizona? Come on." Moak recently held a pilot union meeting outside the former US Airways offices in Arlington, Va., to highlight what he believes would be Atlanta's fate if the deal goes forward. He said US Airways plans to expand its Tempe headquarters. "Is there any real question as to where the corporate headquarters will land?" he said. Moak also noted that Parker and his team are still at work on integrating America West and US Airways. "If you want to run an airline," he said mockingly, "why don't you start with the one you already have?"

Concern about the loss of Delta's headquarters has given management many local allies. Earlier Wednesday, the board of Central Atlanta Progress, which includes executives from some of Atlanta's top companies, passed a resolution supporting Delta's independence. Phil Gee, a spokesman for US Airways, said he isn't surprised by the emotional opposition. "It's something we definitely expected to encounter," he said. "Delta people are very passionate. You'd be hard pressed to find employees with more pride for their company than they have."
US Airways contends a merger would be a bold move to create a stronger airline — and one less vulnerable to the financial crises that overtook both US Airways and Delta in recent years. The United-Continental talks are not new, though they have become more serious since US Airways approached Delta, according to published reports. A deal remains far from certain. One big obstacle: Northwest Airlines may be able to stop it under a 2000 cross-marketing agreement with Continental.
The Wall Street Journal reported that, in addition to talks with Continental, United also has informally pitched itself to Delta as a better merger partner than US Airways if Delta or its creditors conclude a deal is unavoidable.
Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, said if such a "tsunami" of airline consolidation were to occur, repercussions for fliers would be disastrous, with fares rising as competition waned. "What's more, these potential transactions represent a near-term fix to the industry's difficulties and do not address systemic profitability problems and root causes," he said.
Airlines are rebounding this year, partly on the wings of cost cuts from layoffs and restructurings. But they still must battle the high cost of fuel. Many analysts believe consolidation would enable carriers to cut overlapping routes and reduce capacity, making it easier to raise fares. Others note the industry's troubled history with getting cooperation from labor groups, not to mention the difficulties of bringing different fleets, maintenance schedules and cultures under one umbrella. Said veteran airline consultant Mike Boyd: "You're dealing with a lot of emotion here that may not make sense in the light of day."
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