Delta pilots seek  midcontract pay raise, consider picketing
     ATLANTA -- Delta Air Lines pilots want more money from the na-
 tion's third-largest carrier, saying the airline extracted a pay cut
 in contract negotiations last year and then gave raises to nonunion
 employees.
     Leaders of the airline'e pilots union are meeting in Dallas
 this week to discuss the possible use of informational pickets and
 other strategies to pressure Delta to negotiate a raise. The union
 has not said how much more it wants. The average salary for Delta's
 9,400 pilots is between $110,000 and $120,000 a year.
     When the airline said it needed help, the pilots stepped up to
 the plate and gave Delta $1 billion in savings ... in decreases in
 pay, benefits and vacation. They looked at it as an investment,"
 said Karen McGuffey, a spokeswoman for the Airline Pilots
 Association.
     "Now that Delta has record earnings and is giving pay raises
 and vacation increases to non-contract employees, it's time to be
 fair to the pilots," she said.
     The pilots' contract extends to May 1, 2000, and Delta is under
 no obligation to amend the pact.
 Knoxville News Sentinel 28 Aug 97
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  ontrol Tower Fight Erupts
     Authorities are investigating a fight between two air traffic
 controllers that erupted in the control tower at New York's La
 Guardia airport. Officials say Tuesday night's altercation appar-
 ently did not delay aircraft or cause safety problems for travelers
 or others in the tower.  But a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation
 Administration said, "We have absolutely no tolerance for this type
 of behavior in the workplace and we will be doing a complete
 investigation."  She would not comment on a New York Post report
 that the fistfight broke out between a white employee and a black
 employee over the use of a racial slur.
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