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DELTA EMPLOYEES: MANAGEMENT’S PERKS JUST
DON’T FLY
Other than the time when I angered most of the Arab world by questioning
their manhood, I got more response from my column about Delta Air Lines
hiring an “image expert” than from any other piece I have ever written.
Most of the mail came from Delta employees — active and retired — who are
angry, disappointed, disillusioned and just plain dumbfounded with their
management. Almost to a person, they asked not to be identified because
they fear reprisals from their out-to-lunch executives.
As you may recall, I had wondered out loud why Delta needed to spend their
scarce resources on image experts. The problem with Delta’s image seemed
pretty obvious to me. The airline’s executives decided that hemorrhaging
$1.4 billion in red ink last year entitled them to bonuses and pension
protections to the tune of about $65 million. Their excuse was that the
payouts were necessary to “keep the management team together.” Since
the column, three of the suits have already left with their money. So much
for the team.
A flight attendant
told me that she and her fellow workers were so incensed at their
management’s chutzpah that their supervisor grew concerned and bought them
a popcorn machine. (I’m not making this up.) Their bosses are making
millions and the local folks get all the free popcorn they can eat.
Another told of taking
a voluntary leave of absence at the company’s request. This, she said, was
her way of helping a company that had been so good to her over the years.
She was then called back to work, and six days later she was told that her
job had been eliminated and so had she.
One employee summed up
the feelings of many of the respondents. She said employees are “disgusted
and embarrassed by management” and accused them of trying to sneak their
bonuses and pension protections through without any public knowledge.
One pilot said he
tried to convey to Delta president Fred Reid that employees are the
company’s greatest assets, and until the executives get them back on the
team, “we will continue to slide downhill. For the first time, I am
starting to worry about the future of Delta Air Lines.” Mr. Reid’s
response, the pilot says, was to defend his salary.
A large number of
employees invoked the name of Dave Garrett, former CEO of Delta.
Several reminded me that during Garrett’s tenure as Delta chief, employees
chipped in and bought the company a $30 million airplane. I doubt
employees would buy current CEO Leo Mullin anything but a farewell lunch.
A Delta captain told
me of trying to get home on a pass at the same time as Garrett and his
wife. When the CEO found out that there was not room on the flight for all
of them, he gave the pilot his seat and he and his wife took a later
flight. Listening to the employees, you get the feeling that Garrett would
not have approved of his executives getting bankruptcy protection and
leaving the rank-and-file swinging in the breeze.
Now we hear that Delta
management has backtracked on their pension and bonus plans. In a “We’re
all in this thing together” letter to employees that had to be as
insulting as was the original effort to quietly line their nests, Mullin
says, “The new moves are part of an effort to eliminate, as much as
possible, any sense of 'we versus they' on compensation policy." Hogwash.
Read the fine print. Delta isn’t rescinding the special pension program.
The company just isn’t going to put in the final $20 million. The 35
executives still have 80 percent of their retirement in a tax-free trust
that cannot be touched in the event of a bankruptcy.
To sum up, Delta
employees are mad as hell and I don’t blame them. I would suggest to the
dunderheads on Delta’s board of directors that they look out for their
employees for a change. Tell the current management bunch to go open a
bait shop in Villa Rica. Bring in Dave Garrett and his management team to
resuscitate Delta Air Lines and its employees. Do that and Delta won’t
need image experts. Simple isn’t it?
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