Hold the Line: Unity Is Our Leverage

This Labor Day, Engage brings together union leadership for a wide-ranging conversation about where Delta pilots have been, where Section 6 negotiations are headed, and why the hard-fought protections in our PWA are not bargaining chips for management’s operational challenges. MEC Chairman Captain Eric Criswell and Negotiating Committee Chairman Captain Bill Finley discuss the return to a traditional Section 6 timeline, an expanded negotiating opener, management’s attempts to tie operational reliability to pilot contractual protections, and a simple message to management from the pilot group: concessions are not an option. Then, Strategic Planning Committee Chairman Evan Baach and Strike Preparedness Committee Chairman Eric Cowen take us behind the scenes of the union’s long-term strategy - from pilot unity and building leverage to the history of organized labor, the Pullman Strike, the Railway Labor Act and the generations of workers and pilots whose sacrifices built the profession we have today.  The lesson of that history is as relevant now as ever: what we inherit, we have a responsibility to protect - and what Delta pilots negotiate today reaches far beyond Delta. Raise the bar. Hold the line. Stay engaged.