Chief of Pilots Union at Delta Air Lines Resigning

The chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association union said Wednesday that he will resign next month, paving the way for new leadership as the union tries to negotiate a new labor contract with Delta Air Lines Inc.

Capt. Mike Donatelli has been in the hot seat this month since a large majority of the voters among the 12,800 Delta aviators represented by the union rejected a new three-year labor contract that he urged them to approve.

The pilot chief, in a letter to members Wednesday, said, "It is time for the pilots of Delta Air Lines to unify…It is time to bring forward a contract reflecting the strength of that unity."

ALPA will hold a special meeting of its leadership council Sept. 1 and 2 to elect a new chairman for a term that begins Sept. 15, Capt. Donatelli said. The union chief, a Detroit-based pilot, was elected in December 2013 to fill a one-year term and re-elected in December 2014 to a two-year term that concludes at the end of 2016. Of the 28 members of the union's leadership council, 19 have voting rights, the union said.

For now, pilots at Delta, the No. 3 U.S. airline by traffic, continue to be governed by their current contract, which doesn't open for renewal until year-end.

Delta management had approached the union seeking early talks on a successor agreement and the two sides reached the tentative new deal, which contained pay raises and the promise of 60 new airplanes joining Delta's fleet.

But the deal, according to numerous Delta pilots, also contained concessions, such as a big potential reduction in the amount of profit-sharing the pilots would receive, a new sick-leave policy that some pilots viewed as draconian, and work-rule adjustments in scheduling and other areas. Some pilots complained that ALPA is too cozy with Delta management.

In the end, some pilots said they voted against the accord because they have made a decade of financial sacrifices—during which time Delta and its merger partner Northwest Airlines both went through bankruptcy proceedings and Delta's pilot pension was terminated—and want their compensation to be fully restored, especially now that Delta is setting profit records.

Capt. Donatelli, in a memo to the pilots before the vote, acknowledged that the new deal traded higher wages for some of the potential profit-sharing and required other compromises.

"We believe there is no more money on the table, clear and simple," he said.

But only 35% of the 10,713 pilot who voted approved the deal. Richard Anderson, Delta's chief executive, said last week that orders for new planes that were part of the tentative deal would be canceled.

Complicating matters is the presence of a group called Delta Pilots Association, a volunteer group whose goal is to replace ALPA as an independent union with lower dues and more independence from Delta management. While the group doesn't have enough current signature cards to petition for a representation election to be called, it is effective in criticizing the incumbent union.

Write to Susan Carey at [e-mail]

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