Why are pilots of delta and northwest unhappy with a probable deal delta/northwest?Which pilots don't like it?

Question

Why are pilots of delta and northwest unhappy with a probable deal delta/northwest?Which pilots don't like it?

Answer 1

In the US airline industry pay and working conditions vary greatly by seniority.

Depending how the seniority of the 2 companies is merged the pilots at the smaller company may really have worse working conditions or lower pay.

Generally the pilots at the bought company are junior to the pilots at the buying company.

Answer 2

All of them...pilots will loose jobs, pay and the opportunity to upgrade to Captain in a reasonable time.

They are primarily concerned with combining the seniority lists into one big list.  How do you do it without making one group upset?

There are still people at NWA and Delta who are still upset about mergers in the past.  Western and Republic are two that come to mind.

Answer 3

The two lads who answered above are on the right track....without knowing the full details of the merger agreement it's hard to give a definitive answer, but normally some sort of a proportionate merging of the seniority lists is what is sought........there are bound to be some casualties, but it is my understanding that there is not much route duplication between Delta and Northwest, so hopefully it's possible that not too many, if any, crew members will have to be furloughed.  Airline and route mergers and sales make for interesting study; if for no other reason than to expose the gutless, selfish past practises of the "Professional" Pilots' union,  ALPA  .......hopefully they've gotten their act together since the days I was put out on the street after The Airline Deregulation Act around 1980 .......mergers and bankruptcies were rampant and routes and aircraft were sold to surviving carriers and, in complete defiance of our contracts, pilots of the failed airlines were not taken aboard the survivng carriers......the silence from  ALPA's corner was deafening......their only concern seemed to be to maintain a steady influx of pilot dues to keep the coffers filled......Regional airlines, who at one time were considered "below" ALPA's standards for entry into their elite union, were now  courted and welcomed with open arms to fill the gap of the now defunct major carriers.