[U.S.] Senator [John] McCain

calls into question the patriotism of those threatening to disrupt the

business fabric of the nation. This method is a little dubious since the

people he was talking about have such a high percentage of veterans and

combat experience in their ranks.

Trent Lott just generalizes,

stereotypes, and misrepresents, kind of like he operates in the Senate.

His Fraudulency Deux says he'll declare a PEB "for the good of the

nation" while he brings pressure to bear on the union "bosses"

(union elected representatives are never called leaders; bosses gives

such a greater threatening connotation) to accept the demands made by

those who paid for his presidency.

Our own Dave Hamrick's method

is to state he's not going to engage in it, followed by his own version

of class warfare, and a boatload of bad data. A federal appeals panel

rules that the effort by some individuals to get pilots to stop flying

voluntary overtime is a violation of the status quo under the Railway

Labor Act of 1936, and Dave calls it an illegal sickout, later amended

to an illegal slowdown.

He thinks we ought to quit

and see how much we could get on the "free market," even though

the act cited above gives us the specific right to organize, negotiate

and strike if necessary. By the way, such an unlikely mass action would

cause the demise of the airline. I don't think they'll get Dave trained

before collapsing under the weight of their 600 aircraft.

We never heard a word from

old Dave when some large international corporations in Peachtree City

were laying off hundreds of workers, but let a union stand up to its management

and watch out for the claws at your back.

He mentions in passing Delta's

seeming inability to bargain in good faith, but spends a whole paragraph

on how good we pilots really have it. He fails to mention Delta's hiring

the negotiator from the last major airline to suffer a pilot strike, and

what a coincidence to be here again?

Here's the scoop, Dave. We

didn't form the Airline Pilot's Association as a benevolent society. It

does not negotiate for other employees, nor is it there to help the free

flow of commerce. ALPA's mission is to negotiate for its members the best

possible pay and working conditions. I for one don't apologize for that

and don't believe it's any of your business. So bash away. Your vote doesn't

count.

As for the fellow Delta employee

who took the time to register his displeasure if time with the company

is so important, write to the new hires Misters Mullin, Reid and Erskine,

and ask that they return to the table with some contract movement so this

showdown can be avoided.

Timothy J. Parker

Peachtree City