Union leaders for Delta Air Lines pilots are considering the tentative agreement with the company, knowing approval by the entire membership is not a sure thing.

        The deal, reached with management of the Atlanta-based carrier a week ago, would make Delta pilots the highest paid in the industry.

        But at the company's annual shareholder meeting last week in Salt Lake City, many pilots expressed reservations if not outright scorn for the deal — which also would boost the airline's costs by $2.4 billion over four years.

        The union's master executive council on Saturday began considering whether to pass on the agreement to the full membership for a vote, a decision that could come as early as today.

        Doug Wolff of Anderson Township, a union spokes man and one of the 1,000 Delta pilots based at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, said there's probably no true way to gauge negative reaction, either locally or systemwide.

        “The negative voices tend to be the loudest, but there are probably a lot of pilots who are waiting to get the full details,” Mr. Wolff said. “But I will say that there is a lot of resentment from the last two years of strained relationships and this contract not passing certainly is one potential repercussion from the tone the company has set.”

        Karen Miller, an Atlanta-based spokeswoman for Delta's 9,700-member branch of the Air Line Pilots Association, said reaction to the deal has been mixed at the union's main office in Atlanta.

        “There are nearly 10,000 pilots, and we've heard from 300-400 of them this week,” said Ms. Miller, “It's just hard to gauge right now the extent of the opposition.”

        “We have nearly 10,000 pilots, and I don't believe

        there's a situation that exists where 10,000 people agree on a single issue,” Delta spokeswoman Alesia Watson said Saturday. “We do believe that is a solid contract and that ... it is strong enough to get ratified and move on.”

        If the council decides not to present it for a vote, or if the rank-and-file turns it down in a vote, the countdown toward a strike would restart where it left off, Ms. Miller said.

        That would give negotiators from both sides seven days to come up with a new contract. After that, the pilots could strike.

        Adding to the pressure on the union is the fact that President Bush has said he would do anything he could to prevent airline strikes.

        Prior to the agreement, Delta officials had been counting on Mr. Bush to impose a Presidential Emergency Board, which would delay a strike by 60 days and could put the situation in the hands of Congress. But a president can't act unilaterally.

        The three-member National Mediation Board, which oversees labor negotiations in the airline and railroad industries, must first recommend that the president make such a move.

        Despite the potential for presidential intervention, many pilots are still stinging from their last contract, which was approved in 1996. It was the the first agreement to be voted on by the entire membership, and was viewed as a concessionary deal for the pilots, who said they made a sacrifice to keep Delta financially viable.

        At the time, some pilots said they thought they were tricked into voting for a bad deal because they didn't have the full contract in front of them.

        Union officials say that won't happen this time, meaning the vote itself could take up to three months — including informational sessions — if the union council approves it.

Delta pilots' OK not a sure thing
Comair, pilots extend talks
Executive Committee gives expensive advice
ECKBERG: Let me tell you a story...
Scholarship offers boost to working students
Keep employees by making them feel appreciated
Promotions & new on the job
Morning Memo