WorldTraveler
Corn Field
- Dec 5, 2003
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- #76
For affected employees, you had the option of:
Exercising your seniority on the system
Retiring (IIRC, your severance weeks counted as service credit towards your pension)
Taking the layoff (double severance)
You could apply for a job with the contractor, but honestly don't think very many did.
indeed, because those have been fairly standard terms within the airline industry with the only difference being that NW did not retain a city as an AW station which meant that city was closed.
DL, OTOH, retained many more stations as AW which meant that a BW employee could displace someone from the counter/gates.
In fact, 7.5 IIRC was an ENTIRE ACS event - not just AW or BW - so there were BW people who exercised their seniority to remain in a city as an AW agent, pushing out a lower seniority AW agent. Most of the people who went to res moved out within a few years and had more choices later after the company stabilized.
Many of the AW agents chose to go to res offices and the company was happy for them to go because they were already well-trained in the res system.
7.5 was almost 20 years ago and DL did not have any widespread closures of stations in BK as other airlines did - and as other airlines are doing now, even post BK.
Most airlines did not and do not now allow the degree of movement between AW and BW that DL has done and still does - but it provides options, even in light of changes that continue to affect the airport operation perhaps moreso than other parts of the company.
Again, DL and NW had different ways to reach their means but every plus that you could find with one system leaves something else that is a negative with the other and vice versa.
Both systems worked for their employees at the time and DL's system works today.
There were benefits and drawbacks to both systems but both are history now. The focus is on where DL is WRT to small and medium station staffing with a common desire to create as many full-time jobs for Delta employees as possible while keeping DL with the best customer service and the most competitive costs.