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Northwest Airlines set to begin strike later this month
Airline mechanics, accusing Northwest Airlines Corp. of refusing to bargain, abruptly walked away from talks and greatly increased the likelihood of a strike as early as 20 August.
“Clearly, Northwest Airlines would prefer a strike over an agreement, and it looks like they’re going to get their wish,” said Steve MacFarlane, a spokesman for the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA).
“We are very disappointed that AMFA leaders decided to leave the bargaining table at this critical time,” said Andy Roberts, executive vice president-operations for Northwest.
Management at the airline says it has the highest labor costs in the industry. They say the airline must obtain at least $1.1 billion in labor cost savings to become successful.
Northwest has been asking for pay cuts of about 25%. Airline management also wants to hire more contractors to do the mechanical work of union members.
Northwest union members say the airline has some of the industry’s oldest fleet, which makes it important to retain present union workers familiar with the planes.
The union’s claim that operations will “be significantly disrupted due to a lack of expertise and familiarity with Northwest’s aircraft are baseless,” according to Mr Roberts.
Mechanics cut short talks that were due to run through Friday.
Officials of Northwest, the US’s fourth-largest airline, vowed to keep flying in case of a strike.
Report by David Wilkening
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