I'm no expert on Delta Air

Lines, but I know more about the company than the average person knows

about the average big company.

As a reporter covering news

at and around Hartsfield International Airport for a couple of decades,

I've had occasion to talk to and be around some of the company's bigwigs

in the past, and I've spent some time around the rank and file covering

press conferences, new airplane roll-outs and other events. I've also

had a number of friends who worked there.

The story of Delta has always

been fascinating. Naturally, a reporter is skeptical about the hype. When

the news releases talked about the "Delta family" and trumpeted

the high morale and great relationship between workers and management,

one tended to nod and think, "Yeah, sure."

But when all the airlines were

facing tough economic times and the inevitable strike rumors several years

ago, the workers at Delta made a believer out of me ... they went out

and bought the company an airplane, just to show their solidarity.

It was a magnificent gesture.

No, getting one new airplane didn't lift Delta out of the economic doldrums,

but the psychological effect on management, workers and stockholders had

to be tremendous.

Delta workers were proud of

the fact that their company kept their pay and benefits near the top of

the industry without the need for unions, contract negotiations, strike

threats and all that.

In my conversations with pilots

recently, I can't help but notice that things have changed. When some

of the old-timers say that their current strike threat is "not about

the money," I truly believe them. There's a bitterness there that

can't be attributed solely to the heat of negotiations.

What happened to the Delta

family? Your guess is as good as mine.

If you talk to the pilots'

union, they'll tell you that the old leaders went out and the new leaders

came in with a completely different attitude. They started playing hard

ball and that old family feeling went away.

Talk to some of the managers,

I'm guessing, and you'll be told that it's the growing union influence

that's to blame. Here we are facing uncertain economic times and yet the

pilots' union is about to strike, even though the company's contract offer

would continue the tradition of keeping the pilots at the top of the heap.

From what I've seen and heard,

the folks on the ramps and in the ticket lines aren't feeling very familial

toward either group.

They were already mad at the

pilots, and if there was any of that old family feeling left, it may have

departed when the company announced a 6.6 percent raise for its CEO, Leo

Mullin, and five days later workers got a lengthy memo from CFO Michelle

Burns calling for belt-tightening to get through the economic slowdown.

Mullin's raise, which bumped

him up to $795,000 a year (plus all kinds of stock options and other benefits),

was based on "job performance" and the salaries of his peers.

And the rank and file have got to be wondering how a 57 percent drop in

revenue over the last six months qualifies as "job performance"

worthy of such a big raise.

As I've written about this

threatened pilot strike, I've been quick to dispel any idea that I'm jealous

of what they make, and I'll make that same point in Mullin's case. If

you can convince the board you're worth it, God bless you. I'm happy for

you.

Maybe he's worth it. Maybe

company profits would have been down 80 percent instead of just 57 if

somebody else had been in charge.

But if he's such a hot shot

manager, how come he couldn't figure out that the timing of this announcement

is on a par with a guy who asks his wife for nookie right after making

a crack about her weight?

And think what a boost it would

have been to morale if he had announced instead that he was going to delay

his raise as long as the company faced tough times. Then, "We're

in this together" wouldn't have such a hollow ring.

Whatever happened to the Delta

family mystique, it seems to be gone. Now the pilots and management are

playing hard ball, and that's just the way it's going to be.

But what the pilots have to

decide is how hard it's wise to push, and when it's wise to stop.

Revenues are down $300 million

to $350 million for the March quarter. How much is attributable to the

economic slowdown and how much to the fact that customers are avoiding

Delta for fear of the strike, no one knows.

Can the company withstand a

strike? Probably. The question is whether it will ever fully recover.

And what's the future of those

fat paychecks if it doesn't?