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NWA AMFA officially on strike!!
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Mechanics on Strike at Northwest Airlines
August 20, 2005
Mechanics on Strike at Northwest Airlines
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
and JEREMY W. PETERS
DETROIT, Saturday, Aug. 21 - Mechanics at Northwest Airlines walked off the job early Saturday, after their union and the airline failed to agree on the company's demand for $176 million in wage and benefit cuts. The strike was the first major labor disruption in the airline industry since 1998.
About 4,430 members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association struck the airline at 12:01 a.m., when a 30-day cooling-off period in the negotiations expired.
Northwest immediately said substitute workers would start doing the jobs of any members of the mechanics' union who participated in the strike. The airline has spent more than $100 million to hire and train substitutes, many of them licensed mechanics who had worked at other airlines. The airline has also hired and trained substitute flight attendants, in case their union stages a sympathy strike, as it has warned it would do.
Northwest, which is based in Eagan, Minn., and has its major international hub here, has vowed to maintain its full schedule of flights during the labor stoppage, which is the first since pilots struck Northwest briefly in 1998.
The summer travel schedule for Northwest ended on Friday, and the lighter fall schedule begins Saturday, which is also the lightest day of the week for travel. Northwest was scheduled to operate 1,215 flights Saturday and 1,381 on Sunday, and its weekday schedule for Monday called for 1,473 flights, although it is unclear how those flights would be affected by the strike. A spokesman, Kurt Ebenhoch, said the weekday summer schedule would have offered 1,600 daily flights.
Negotiators met until Friday night under the supervision of the National Mediation Board in Washington. But by evening, the mechanics union, which has 4,430 members at Northwest, said a strike seemed certain.
The $176 million in wage and benefit cuts sought from the mechanics is their share of $1.1 billion in concessions that Northwest has insisted its workers must grant. Otherwise, it will seek bankruptcy protection, something that has already happened at United, US Airways and several small airlines. Thus far, only Northwest's pilots have agreed to concessions.
There was no sign when talks would resume.
The airlines inability to win concessions from its unions has frustrated its executives. They have spent the better part of three years trying to cut its labor costs to the levels of its rivals, which have all cut their pay rates, in some cases by filing for bankruptcy protection or by threatening to do so.
Thus far, Northwest has obtained $265 million in cuts from its pilots and $35 million from salaried employees. The airline, which lost $225 million in the second quarter, has said it may be forced to seek bankruptcy protection if it cannot obtain all the cuts.
Along with eliminating about 2,000 mechanics jobs, Northwest proposed a 26 percent cut in pay for mechanics, who are paid $36.39 an hour, including bonuses for various types of certification. That is the highest among the major carriers, with the exception of Southwest Airlines, which pays its mechanics an average of $37.86 an hour.
But Southwest flies only one type of aircraft, the Boeing 737, versus the variety of planes flown by Northwest, from regional to jumbo jets. Southwest also does not have a traditional pension plan like the one Northwest offers to its employees.
Northwest planned to pay about $32 an hour, as well as a housing allowance and a cash bonus, to the substitute mechanics.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
August 20, 2005
Mechanics on Strike at Northwest Airlines
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
and JEREMY W. PETERS
DETROIT, Saturday, Aug. 21 - Mechanics at Northwest Airlines walked off the job early Saturday, after their union and the airline failed to agree on the company's demand for $176 million in wage and benefit cuts. The strike was the first major labor disruption in the airline industry since 1998.
About 4,430 members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association struck the airline at 12:01 a.m., when a 30-day cooling-off period in the negotiations expired.
Northwest immediately said substitute workers would start doing the jobs of any members of the mechanics' union who participated in the strike. The airline has spent more than $100 million to hire and train substitutes, many of them licensed mechanics who had worked at other airlines. The airline has also hired and trained substitute flight attendants, in case their union stages a sympathy strike, as it has warned it would do.
Northwest, which is based in Eagan, Minn., and has its major international hub here, has vowed to maintain its full schedule of flights during the labor stoppage, which is the first since pilots struck Northwest briefly in 1998.
The summer travel schedule for Northwest ended on Friday, and the lighter fall schedule begins Saturday, which is also the lightest day of the week for travel. Northwest was scheduled to operate 1,215 flights Saturday and 1,381 on Sunday, and its weekday schedule for Monday called for 1,473 flights, although it is unclear how those flights would be affected by the strike. A spokesman, Kurt Ebenhoch, said the weekday summer schedule would have offered 1,600 daily flights.
Negotiators met until Friday night under the supervision of the National Mediation Board in Washington. But by evening, the mechanics union, which has 4,430 members at Northwest, said a strike seemed certain.
The $176 million in wage and benefit cuts sought from the mechanics is their share of $1.1 billion in concessions that Northwest has insisted its workers must grant. Otherwise, it will seek bankruptcy protection, something that has already happened at United, US Airways and several small airlines. Thus far, only Northwest's pilots have agreed to concessions.
There was no sign when talks would resume.
The airlines inability to win concessions from its unions has frustrated its executives. They have spent the better part of three years trying to cut its labor costs to the levels of its rivals, which have all cut their pay rates, in some cases by filing for bankruptcy protection or by threatening to do so.
Thus far, Northwest has obtained $265 million in cuts from its pilots and $35 million from salaried employees. The airline, which lost $225 million in the second quarter, has said it may be forced to seek bankruptcy protection if it cannot obtain all the cuts.
Along with eliminating about 2,000 mechanics jobs, Northwest proposed a 26 percent cut in pay for mechanics, who are paid $36.39 an hour, including bonuses for various types of certification. That is the highest among the major carriers, with the exception of Southwest Airlines, which pays its mechanics an average of $37.86 an hour.
But Southwest flies only one type of aircraft, the Boeing 737, versus the variety of planes flown by Northwest, from regional to jumbo jets. Southwest also does not have a traditional pension plan like the one Northwest offers to its employees.
Northwest planned to pay about $32 an hour, as well as a housing allowance and a cash bonus, to the substitute mechanics.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
Resume Writer
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O.K., let me see if I get this straight -
NWA Management spent $100 million to train replacements, yet they are seeking a $176 million pay give back???
Further, they are asking for a 26% pay cut, which would make the pay for the MX techs go to about $26 per hour instead of about $37 an hour. Yet, they are paying $32 an hour for replacement MX techs, plus housing costs, which I am certain equals more than $37 an hour.
Further, comparing the NWA MX Techs to SWA MX Techs is like apples and oranges. The NWA MX Techs work on several different types of aircraft, have to have more certifications, etc. Interestingly enough, the SWA MX Techs make more on average than the NWA Techs. Not taking anything away from SWA people, but I find it odd the pay differentation.
It amazes me how management will step over a dollar to pick up a dime. Raise the fares and you can keep your people AND make money!!
NWA Management spent $100 million to train replacements, yet they are seeking a $176 million pay give back???
Further, they are asking for a 26% pay cut, which would make the pay for the MX techs go to about $26 per hour instead of about $37 an hour. Yet, they are paying $32 an hour for replacement MX techs, plus housing costs, which I am certain equals more than $37 an hour.
Further, comparing the NWA MX Techs to SWA MX Techs is like apples and oranges. The NWA MX Techs work on several different types of aircraft, have to have more certifications, etc. Interestingly enough, the SWA MX Techs make more on average than the NWA Techs. Not taking anything away from SWA people, but I find it odd the pay differentation.
It amazes me how management will step over a dollar to pick up a dime. Raise the fares and you can keep your people AND make money!!
TonyC
Frederick's Happy Face
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- Oct 21, 2002
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- 3,050
Yepp, you've got it straight.Resume Writer said:O.K., let me see if I get this straight -
NWA Management spent $100 million to train replacements, yet they are seeking a $176 million pay give back???
Further, they are asking for a 26% pay cut, which would make the pay for the MX techs go to about $26 per hour instead of about $37 an hour. Yet, they are paying $32 an hour for replacement MX techs, plus housing costs, which I am certain equals more than $37 an hour.
Further, comparing the NWA MX Techs to SWA MX Techs is like apples and oranges. The NWA MX Techs work on several different types of aircraft, have to have more certifications, etc. Interestingly enough, the SWA MX Techs make more on average than the NWA Techs. Not taking anything away from SWA people, but I find it odd the pay differentation.
It amazes me how management will step over a dollar to pick up a dime. Raise the fares and you can keep your people AND make money!!
How many typical readers will figure that out?
.
Yank McCobb
Song and Dance Man
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2005
- Posts
- 538
Resume Writer said:
While this sounds like such a simple premise, don't you think this has been thought of, and tried, and tried and tried again? How many times has EVERY airline tried to raise fares, only to find one airline or another not go along? Then everyone has to back off the fare hike. This has been the same story for years.
Yet everyone says..."Raise the fares. Then you can pay everybody what they are asking, your profits will go through the roof, and everyone lives happily ever after."
If it were only that easy then the airlines wouldn't have lost tens of billions of dollars.
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