Reply #121: Delta Pilots March Through Atlanta Airport [View All]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060330/delta_pilots.html?.v=4

ATLANTA (AP) -- Almost 275 Delta Air Lines Inc. pilots marched through the world's busiest airport Thursday to vent their anger over the company's effort to throw out their contract so it can impose up to $325 million in long-term pay and benefit cuts.

The pilots for the nation's third-largest carrier have stepped up picketing at airports around the country and other demonstrations of unity despite a warning to turn down the noise issued by the arbitration panel considering the company's contract rejection request.

The panel chairman, Richard Bloch, told both sides after hearings in Washington ended March 23 to get a consensual deal done, saying if the panel is left to decide it could be disastrous to Atlanta-based Delta and its 5,930 pilots.

The pilots have said they will strike if their contract is voided.

"You can consider today's actions an exercise and you can stand by for the real thing," Lee Moak, chairman of the pilot union's executive committee, said as he led the line of 273 uniformed pilots who quietly filed through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

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