American legacy carrier Delta Air Lines will be holding off on its planned job cuts, for now, thanks to the unexpected number of voluntary leaves, buyouts, and reduced work hours. The airline announced on Tuesday that its roughly 75,000 workers remaining will no longer need to worry about losing their jobs.
Delta Air Lines previously warned that it might be forced to furlough or remove some of its workers if it does not get enough volunteers for its early retirement and voluntary exit packages. Over the past months, airlines have been pleading with employees to help it reduce costs by participating in its programs. With the prolonged pandemic still causing disruptions in the travel and tourism industry, airlines are being pressured to cut costs where they can.
In a memo sent to staff members, Delta's chief executive officer, Ed Bastian, noted that a fifth of its staff members have agreed to accept its early exit packages. He added that around 40,000 employees have so far opted to accept its temporary leave of absence requests as the pandemic had rendered their services unnecessary for the time being.
Most of those who still want to work also accepted the company's request of reducing working hours by 25 percent. Delta stated that the reduced hours are expected to continue until the end of the year.
"While it is difficult to see so many of our colleagues leave, every one of those departures helped save Delta jobs," Bastian mentioned in the staff memo. Thanks to the sacrifices made by some of its employees, attendants, customer service agents and mechanics won't be facing forced furloughs for now.
While the aforementioned workers have been given the chance to still hold onto their jobs, Delta's pilots are still facing threats of being furloughed. Delta warned that it will still be moving forward with its plans to reduce its more than 1,900 pilots starting next month. It added that they are still negotiating with its pilots' unions to come up with cost-cutting measures to prevent the furloughs. However, no concrete agreements have been reached.
A pilots' union representative confirmed in a statement that talks with the company's management are still ongoing. Both parties are aiming to come up with a win-win solution, which will both reduce Delta's costs and prevent any pilot furloughs.
