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Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWAC) said Wednesday it will cut up to 1,600 flight-attendant jobs because air-travel demand is still weak after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The airline said it was notifying flight attendants of new voluntary leave programs to help cut the jobs, and that it would use a combination of voluntary short-term leaves and furloughs to achieve the reductions over the next two months.
Northwest is the No. 4 U.S. airline and has about 43,000 employees.
The Egan, Minnesota-based carrier, the latest in a string of carriers to trim its work force, last month laid off 670 temporary employees after the U.S. Labor Day weekend and said it was looking to cut another 350 full-time positions.
"The entire industry continues to suffer the impact of a drop in travel demand as the result of Sept. 11, 2001," Doug Steenland, Northwest president, said in a statement.
Delta Air Lines Inc. last week said it was eliminating 1,500 of its 16,000 flight attendant jobs and warned of deeper losses in the third quarter.
Northwest's new temporary leave programs run between one and 12 months in duration and permit employees to retain seniority and recall rights. The programs also provide travel benefits, but do not provide company-sponsored health care.
About 2,500 Northwest flight attendants who volunteered for leave programs last October are scheduled to come back to work this month, Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said.
But up to 1,600 of those flight attendants will be asked to take voluntary leave packages or be put on furlough, Ebenhoch said.
"There are more (flight attendants) coming back than we require for our current level of flying," Ebenhoch said.
He said Northwest would invoke the "force majeure" clause of the labor contract, which would give the carrier a legal justification for not abiding by the terms of the contract under special circumstances.
"We believe the provisions of 'force majeure' would apply because this leave program is a direct result of September 11, 2001, and its impact on our business," Ebenhoch said.
But a spokesman for Teamsters Local 2000, which represents Northwest's flight attendants, said the union disputed the airline's contention that the furloughs are the result of such extraordinary circumstances.
"Certainly something like September 11 was an extraordinary circumstance forced upon all of us," Teamsters Local 2000 spokesman David Cameron said. "Now we're more than a year beyond September 11, and that (clause) is still what the company is trying to use, and we're looking into contesting that."
Northwest shares fell 3.42 percent to end at $6.52 on the Nasdaq Wednesday. The shares have traded between $6.33 and $20.92 in the last 12 months.
The airline said it was notifying flight attendants of new voluntary leave programs to help cut the jobs, and that it would use a combination of voluntary short-term leaves and furloughs to achieve the reductions over the next two months.
Northwest is the No. 4 U.S. airline and has about 43,000 employees.
The Egan, Minnesota-based carrier, the latest in a string of carriers to trim its work force, last month laid off 670 temporary employees after the U.S. Labor Day weekend and said it was looking to cut another 350 full-time positions.
"The entire industry continues to suffer the impact of a drop in travel demand as the result of Sept. 11, 2001," Doug Steenland, Northwest president, said in a statement.
Delta Air Lines Inc. last week said it was eliminating 1,500 of its 16,000 flight attendant jobs and warned of deeper losses in the third quarter.
Northwest's new temporary leave programs run between one and 12 months in duration and permit employees to retain seniority and recall rights. The programs also provide travel benefits, but do not provide company-sponsored health care.
About 2,500 Northwest flight attendants who volunteered for leave programs last October are scheduled to come back to work this month, Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said.
But up to 1,600 of those flight attendants will be asked to take voluntary leave packages or be put on furlough, Ebenhoch said.
"There are more (flight attendants) coming back than we require for our current level of flying," Ebenhoch said.
He said Northwest would invoke the "force majeure" clause of the labor contract, which would give the carrier a legal justification for not abiding by the terms of the contract under special circumstances.
"We believe the provisions of 'force majeure' would apply because this leave program is a direct result of September 11, 2001, and its impact on our business," Ebenhoch said.
But a spokesman for Teamsters Local 2000, which represents Northwest's flight attendants, said the union disputed the airline's contention that the furloughs are the result of such extraordinary circumstances.
"Certainly something like September 11 was an extraordinary circumstance forced upon all of us," Teamsters Local 2000 spokesman David Cameron said. "Now we're more than a year beyond September 11, and that (clause) is still what the company is trying to use, and we're looking into contesting that."
Northwest shares fell 3.42 percent to end at $6.52 on the Nasdaq Wednesday. The shares have traded between $6.33 and $20.92 in the last 12 months.
