Delta is paying its staff $1.4 billion in yearly profit sharing scheme

Airline Delta has paid out $1.4 billion to employees as part of its profit share scheme.

The payments, which are more than double what the company paid out last year, went out to upwards of 100,000 employees at the company on Wednesday.

They equate to around 10% of employee's annual salary, or more than a month's pay.

All employees at Delta below mid-level managers are in the programme, according to the airline.

Divided by the 100,000 employees who received the payment, this suggests an average of around $1,400 per payment.

The payout of $1.4 billion is the second-largest from the US airline after they gave out around $1.6 billion back in 2019.

At the time, this was the equivalent of around two months' salary for most employees at the company.

It is also well above the $108 million in 2021.

Meanwhile, 2020 saw no payments made at all, as the coronavirus pandemic saw the aviation industry heavily strained following a plunge in demand.

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Only 20% of employees at Delta are unionised, with this mostly being made up of the airline's 18,500 pilots.

The Association of Flight Attendants has also been making attempts to organise with flight attendants but has so far proved unsuccessful.

Profit share schemes have become more widespread in the aviation industry following a slew of tough years and bankruptcy filings.

Delta currently has the most lucrative profit share scheme if measured using the percentage of profits which are paid to employees.

As a general rule management tends to favour profit share schemes as it is a way to limit labour costs.

This can be an asset during difficult years for the company, such as when covid brought air travel largely to a stop.

And at companies without union representation companies can set these terms without any negotiation.

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For their part, unions can often push for a larger proportion of compensation to be a part of standard pay rates.

This is to shield employees from any downturns in the company's fortunes.

Nonetheless, some union contracts do also include profit sharing systems, such as that for pilots employed at Delta.

Unions agreed to profit sharing plans as a way to regain what some members had lost.

The unions were also left reeling after concessions that they had given up during bankruptcy.

It's not just in the aviation industry either, with members of the United Auto Workers union at General Motors receiving an average profit sharing payment of $12,250 in 2023.