Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announced their merger plans last April, and several days ago anti-trust regulators at the U.S. Department of Justice signed off on the deal. With that, Northwest Airlines is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta. The merged airline, called Delta and headquartered in Atlanta, has approximately 75,000 employees worldwide. According to a Delta press release about the merger, the company "will distribute an equity stake to substantially all U.S.-based employees with international employees participating through cash payments in lieu of stock."Delta's management has promised "that no frontline employees will be involuntarily furloughed as a result of the merger and that no hubs will be closed," and that they have "implemented a seniority protection policy that ensures that frontline employees of both airlines will be provided seniority protection through a fair-and-equitable process."
The two pilot groups have a single collective bargaining agreement with Delta. It remains to be seen whether or not the 21,000 flight attendants of the merged airline will ultimately have union representation. Northwest's flight attendants are unionized, while Delta's have not had a union.
Integrating the two work forces is already underway. I understand that Northwest crews are being fitted for their Delta uniforms, and that pilots, flight attendants, and customer service agents will begin wearing them on March 30, 2009.
Best wishes to everyone at the new Delta as they go through the process of integrating their operations. Here is a video tribute to the Delta-Northwest merger.
If the video does not play or display properly above, click here to view it on YouTube.
Tip of the hat to stejensen for posting the video to YouTube for all of us to enjoy.
