NWA AMFA officially on strike!!

[geshields]

Northwest Mechanics are officially on strike right now...

 

[reospeedwagon]

what about the flight attendants? Are they going to strike also or were they just talking a big game?

 

[PurpleTail]

Ok, now that the strike is on...how long is going to last before a resolution? Any guess? I am not privy to any details but is this going to be a 1 week strike or several months?

 

[Rogue5]

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

 

[Resume Writer]

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!!

 

[brownie]

f...king scabbbbbbbs

 

[TonyC]

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!!

Yepp, you've got it straight.

How many typical readers will figure that out?






.

 

[Skyboy722]

My best wishes to the NWA folks...

 

[klhoard]

Yepp, you've got it straight.

How many typical readers will figure that out?


.

.
.
.
Any airline you've heard of, TonyC?? (wink, wink, foot stomp, foot stomp)
.
.
.

 

[Yank McCobb]

Raise the fares and you can keep your people AND make money!!

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.

 

[Resume Writer]

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.

Yank, I hear you. I did a stint in yield management and am very aware of the 10,000 fare changes that occur each day. However, the business man does not fly for price. They fly for convenience and are willing to pay a premium for that convenience. Raising fares by $18 (someone in another thread did the math) would take care of keeping the jobs. Now, if $18 is going to break someone, then they have no business flying.

Now that I PAY for airline tickets, (yes, it stinks!), I fly for the convenience of the schedule and number of stops that I have to make. I am willing to pay more to have that. My time is money.

In my business, I understand the story of competition. There are probably 3,000 resume writers in the U.S. alone. I compete with them on a daily basis for clients, in addition to resume writers on an international basis. However, I do not "lower" my rates because they charge less.

I compete on service. I market my product that way, and if people cannot discern the value they will receive with personalized service versus filling out a "form," then I do not want to work with them. I also compete on the my knowledge base, my relationships with HR and Recruiting folks, my previous HR background, my expert knowledge of the interview process and the research I conduct on a daily basis. People are willing to pay a premium for that.

There are also resume writers that charge WAY more than I do. Everyone has a niche market.

If the airlines were to raise their fares, and communicate with their people that service is the number one priority in raising those fares, then I think there would be a different ball game being played.

These are just my thoughts from being in this industry for almost two decades and in my own business for the same amount of time. Customer Relationship Management and Development is the name of the game.

Kathy

 

[Pilotbob3]

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.

guess which airline was 90% of the time the one spoiler for the other airlines trying to raise fares??????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Andy]

guess which airline was 90% of the time the one spoiler for the other airlines trying to raise fares??????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmmm. I see a red tail. Bowling shoes. Compass. crap, i've got No idea Who you could be tAlking about.

 

[FoxHunter]

Ok, now that the strike is on...how long is going to last before a resolution? Any guess? I am not privy to any details but is this going to be a 1 week strike or several months?

It appears that they never will be back. FEIA went on strike against EAL in the early 60s....I flew with one of the strikers in 1974, said he was still getting letters from the FEIA requesting money to fight the lock out, he had bounced from nonsked to nonsked. It was never settled. The last EAL PFE retired as a DC10 S/O at FedEx only a few years ago. He had come to FedEx same as I did, Seaboard, Tigers.

 

[Carl_Spackler]

I don't think it a pay rate issue. NWA can pay replacements more, but with out a pension and the same benefits, it will cost NWA much, much less.

Why should airlines raise fares? That might actually cause them to make a profit. If they are losing money, that strengthens their position of cuts. Try telling an employee group that they need to give up money if the airline is turning a profit.

I don't like the raising fare arguement to solving this problem. If they raise fares $18 for the mechanics, then raise fares to help the pilots, customer service, cleaners, etc. pretty soon the fares would double.

It's the same principal or argument that local governments make.. wanting to raise the sales tax by 1/10% for some project or to save some program. Give it time and those 1/10% increases start adding up and you are paying 15% sales tax.

 

[FN FAL]

Yepp, you've got it straight.

How many typical readers will figure that out?

It's all about union busting.

 

[Lear70]

NWA Management spent $100 million to train replacements, yet they are seeking a $176 million pay give back???

That's a one-tme $100 Million training cost against a $176 Million PER YEAR cut in pay AND benefits.

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.

That's a wopping $6 difference per hour, and they are not paying the replacement MX people benefits to go along with that. Comparing pay rates is only half the battle, work rules are EVERYTHING as any union pilot can attest to.

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.

Actually, it takes very little to turn a wrench on an airplane. Only the supervisors have to be checked out on the aircraft specifics, the rest barely have to have an A&P license - the supervisor can sign it off while a "tech" turns the wrenches "under observation". Not like the pilot world where each aircraft is a different signoff for EVERY pilot.

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!!

Now there I agree with you 100%.

For the record, I think it's abhorrent what NWA management is doing to the mechanics and I think they make a fare wage for their craft with what they offered Northwest.

I think the only thing we've learned here today is that

a.) Northwest WANTS to lock out the mechanics, probably to enter bankruptcy under plausible reasons,

b.) The union groups won't stand together, but will hang separately.

Sad, but true...

 

[COpilot]

It's all about union busting.

Yeah it sure is... And they just Busted NWA ALPA! Not even a wimper from the pilots with the National Union leader flying for them.

I hope someone gets a picture of Duane crossing the picket line to his airplane?

It'll look great on the cover of next months ALPA magazine.

 

[Caveman]

Two thoughts:

First of all, this quote once again shows that newspaper hacks don't know squat about what they are writing about. "The strike was the first major labor disruption in the airline industry since 1998." What was CMR in '01? I guess a net loss of around $1B doesn't count.

Second, if the NW pilots and flight attendants are gonna cross the picket lines I hope they'll at least fly to the letter of the contract and the standards manual. Fast walk taxi's, write up EVERYTHING that's legitimate, two engine taxi, etc, etc. Do NOTHING to help the company at all and completely ignore the scab mechanics as much as possible.

Whatever happened to unions supporting each other......

 

[Dodge]

Second, if the NW pilots and flight attendants are gonna cross the picket lines I hope they'll at least fly to the letter of the contract and the standards manual. Fast walk taxi's, write up EVERYTHING that's legitimate, two engine taxi, etc, etc. Do NOTHING to help the company at all and completely ignore the scab mechanics as much as possible.

Whatever happened to unions supporting each other......

It's called "saving my retirement". Good point on following the manuals to the letter.