Delta's Pilots Seek Big Payday as Airline's Earnings Surge
- Union seeks contract with 22% increase for next year
- Request follows proposal rejected by members over summer
This article is for subscribers only.
The union representing Delta Air Lines Inc.’s pilots wants raises of almost 40 percent compounded over three years, attempting to reverse some of the pay and benefit cuts adopted in the early 2000s.
The union cites the carrier’s surging profits in saying it had requested a 22 percent raise for 2016, followed by 7 percent raises in the following two years, according to a memo from the Air Line Pilots Association. The union declined to comment on the memo on Wednesday though John Malone, chairman of the union’s master executive council, said in a separate Dec. 22 letter to pilots that its demands are “reasonable, deserved and in the best interests of the corporation.”