Northwest Mechanics Reject Offer

Northwest Mechanics Reject Offer
Settlement Is Turned Down
By 57% of Those Voting;
4-Month Strike Continues
By SUSAN CAREY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 31, 2005; Page A3

A majority of the Northwest Airlines mechanics who voted on a settlement agreement that would have ended a four-month strike rejected the offer, according to the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association.

The deal, rejected by 57% of those voting, would have made the strikers eligible for four weeks of severance pay and allowed them to apply for 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. Northwest made the offer in mid-December

However, Northwest has outsourced most of the strikers' jobs and now only employs 880 mechanics, including 480 AMFA members who crossed picket lines or came off furlough as replacement workers. And it imposed a new contract on that group, terms of which the strikers also rejected in the ballot results released Friday.

When the strike began Aug. 20, 4,400 people walked off the job after union negotiators rejected a proposal that would have provided as much as six months of severance pay and protected 2,750 jobs. Northwest made two subsequent offers to the union, both less attractive than the first, and AMFA negotiators declined to put them out for a membership vote.

AMFA's national executive council decided earlier this month to put the latest, least generous offer to a vote, but recommended that members reject it and the imposed contract terms for the current mechanics. Rejection means the strike will continue. The union said 2,223 people cast ballots, with 1,258 voting against the deal and 965 voting for it. Retirees, furloughed workers and those who crossed the picket lines and returned to work weren't eligible to vote.

"This is a victory for AMFA members and for unionism," said O.V. Delle-Femine, national director of the union. "Our striking members refused to bow down to Northwest's ... management and will continue the strike against this renegade, union-busting airline." AMFA also represents mechanics at UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, Alaska Air Group Inc.'s Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines and some smaller carriers.

Northwest, which filed for bankruptcy-court protection in September, has said the terms it imposed on the replacement workers, which included outsourcing the majority of its technician and aircraft-cleaner positions, are providing it with the $203 million in annual savings it was seeking from that work group. The imposed terms lowered the top pay for a veteran mechanic to $26.53 an hour, down from the mid-$30s, and made union membership and dues payment optional rather than mandatory. Technically, AMFA remains the bargaining agent for the 880 remaining mechanics.

Northwest, based in Eagan, Minn., said it was disappointed that the union declined to ratify the latest contract proposal.

The carrier remains in negotiations with its three largest unions over concessions it says it needs to successfully restructure in bankruptcy and emerge a stronger, financially viable airline. The three unions currently are providing Northwest with temporary savings and hope to reach permanent contracts before a bankruptcy judge is scheduled to hear the company's motion on Jan. 17 to annul the group's contracts so it can impose terms on the pilots, flight attendants and ramp workers and customer-service agents.

Some of Northwest's requests have angered other workers also. The Air Line Pilots Association, for instance, intends to conduct informational picketing on Wednesday at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport to display frustration with the carrier's plans to outsource all jobs on planes of 100 seats or fewer to a new subsidiary. ALPA maintains that 1,000 Northwest pilot jobs would be lost, and pledges that if the judge allows Northwest to impose new terms of employment the pilots will strike.

Northwest says its goal is to reach consensual agreements with the unions. Its aim is to lower its overall labor costs by $1.4 billion per year.