A career follows airline's fortunes
Gwendolyn Freed, Star Tribune
Published October 26, 2003 TONY26
Aviation is in Tony Roman's blood. His father served in the Air Force and spent his working life in the airline industry, first in ticketing and later in management-level positions at Northwest Airlines.
Roman always imagined that he, too, would work his way up in the field. In 1986, four years after starting at Northwest as an airplane cleaner, he enrolled in mechanic training at Flying Cloud Airport.
Attending classes and working full time was grueling with three young children at home and a working spouse. But Roman eventually completed the course work, passed a certifying exam, and was issued a Federal Aviation Administration license permitting him to work as a mechanic for Northwest.
A year and a half ago, the more-lucrative career he worked so hard to build for himself came crashing down. Roman was told his job would be eliminated during a mass layoff. Roman could either move his family to Detroit to maintain his mechanic status or stay here and work as a cleaner.
He chose the demotion. "I'd rather be a cleaner here than eventually wind up as a cleaner anyway when the next round of layoffs hits Detroit," he said.
He now makes half what he earned as a mechanic and pays $250 more a month for health coverage.
Roman works the third shift -- 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. -- cleaning the interior and exterior of planes and preparing them for mechanical inspection. With fewer people on staff, the pace is intense, the work painstaking. Lives depend on whether he cleans engines and cockpit instruments well, he said. "I take that very seriously."
As the sun comes up most days, Roman heads out to construction jobs to make ends meet. This week, he drywalled a bathroom. When he can't find outside work, he at least catches up on sleep.
Roman said the hardest thing for him to bear is the guilt. Due to the airline's seniority system, his decision to accept his current cleaner job resulted in more junior people losing their jobs.
"Those people are out on the street because of me," he said. "Yes, I've had my financial strife, but my only concern is the people that I've affected."
There was a time when Roman was proud to wear his Northwest uniform. Not long ago, he was grocery shopping in his Northwest jacket when a young woman, who had been laid off as a cleaner, approached him and said, "Northwest sucks."
Now, he said, "When I get home, I take off my uniform as soon I can."
When asked recently whether he would like his 11th-grade daughter Angelas to follow in his footsteps, as he tried to follow in his father's, Roman replied, "I don't want my kids going anywhere near this industry."
Gwendolyn Freed, Star Tribune
Published October 26, 2003 TONY26
Aviation is in Tony Roman's blood. His father served in the Air Force and spent his working life in the airline industry, first in ticketing and later in management-level positions at Northwest Airlines.
Roman always imagined that he, too, would work his way up in the field. In 1986, four years after starting at Northwest as an airplane cleaner, he enrolled in mechanic training at Flying Cloud Airport.
Attending classes and working full time was grueling with three young children at home and a working spouse. But Roman eventually completed the course work, passed a certifying exam, and was issued a Federal Aviation Administration license permitting him to work as a mechanic for Northwest.
A year and a half ago, the more-lucrative career he worked so hard to build for himself came crashing down. Roman was told his job would be eliminated during a mass layoff. Roman could either move his family to Detroit to maintain his mechanic status or stay here and work as a cleaner.
He chose the demotion. "I'd rather be a cleaner here than eventually wind up as a cleaner anyway when the next round of layoffs hits Detroit," he said.
He now makes half what he earned as a mechanic and pays $250 more a month for health coverage.
Roman works the third shift -- 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. -- cleaning the interior and exterior of planes and preparing them for mechanical inspection. With fewer people on staff, the pace is intense, the work painstaking. Lives depend on whether he cleans engines and cockpit instruments well, he said. "I take that very seriously."
As the sun comes up most days, Roman heads out to construction jobs to make ends meet. This week, he drywalled a bathroom. When he can't find outside work, he at least catches up on sleep.
Roman said the hardest thing for him to bear is the guilt. Due to the airline's seniority system, his decision to accept his current cleaner job resulted in more junior people losing their jobs.
"Those people are out on the street because of me," he said. "Yes, I've had my financial strife, but my only concern is the people that I've affected."
There was a time when Roman was proud to wear his Northwest uniform. Not long ago, he was grocery shopping in his Northwest jacket when a young woman, who had been laid off as a cleaner, approached him and said, "Northwest sucks."
Now, he said, "When I get home, I take off my uniform as soon I can."
When asked recently whether he would like his 11th-grade daughter Angelas to follow in his footsteps, as he tried to follow in his father's, Roman replied, "I don't want my kids going anywhere near this industry."
