Professor Gregory said that it was little comfort to Delta pilots that employees at other companies were making concessions.

Union members may prefer, Professor Gregory said, to "let the dust settle and see where they are a few weeks from now."

"Neither party can use any alternative as an excuse to walk from good faith bargaining," Professor Gregory said.

"This really gives the rhetorical opportunity to the governor to resume his shots at the union, and that could be very inflammatory," Professor Gregory said.

"The labor movement just doesn't believe what corporate America is telling them," Professor Gregory said.

"This goes against what unions were set up to provide," Professor Gregory said.

Nonetheless, Professor Gregory said the authority had achieved one of its - and the mayor's and governor's - main pension goals during the dispute.

"There are very few careers left in our economy," Professor Gregory said.

For the union, a reduction that big "is really going to be cataclysmic," Professor Gregory said.

"No union leadership wants to be seen as abandoning those who follow them," Professor Gregory said.