NWA answer to pending strike of FA's

[Hutchman]

Northwest Recalls Idle Flight Attendants
Thursday September 7, 10:15 am ET
By Joshua Freed, AP Business Writer Northwest Airlines Recalls All Furloughed Flight Attendants
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Northwest Airlines Corp. is recalling all 1,131 furloughed flight attendants, in a move that will boost the size of of its cabin staff as it awaits a judge's ruling on whether those workers can strike.
NWA, which is reorganizing under bankruptcy protection, said the recalled workers will fill permanent vacancies beginning Sept. 30. The recall applies to workers who had volunteered for furloughs as well as involuntary furloughs.
"The current vacancies are created by a number of factors, including some modest operational growth and flight attendant attrition," the airline said in a statement issued late Wednesday after the union announced the recalls in a hotline message.
On Thursday, spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch declined to comment on whether the recall was driven in part by a possible strike.
The Association of Flight Attendants said that workers who don't respond to recall letters within a week will be assumed to have resigned.
Flight attendants have been trying to win legal permission for random, unannounced walkouts aimed at pressuring Northwest to offer them a better contract.
Northwest has said a strike would be illegal, and that its solvency would be in danger if job actions drove customers away. A bankruptcy judge's ruling allowed a strike, but Northwest appealed to U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero in New York to block walkouts. Marrero could rule at any time
Northwest, which is trying to emerge from bankruptcy, imposed $195 million in cuts on flight attendants with a judge's permission on July 31 after union members twice voted down two negotiated settlements. Flight attendants have said the pay cuts amount to as much as 40 percent when health insurance increases are factored in, although Northwest has disputed that figure. Flight attendants have said the cuts have caused some lower-seniority employees to leave Northwest for other jobs.

 

[YourPilotFriend]

All employee's should be recalled by the end of this year possibly a little into 2007. Pilot interviewing off the street is going to start soon after.

 

[schmitty340]

The question is....Who in their right mind still wants to work there? In the next two years most airlines will be hiring again. So why would anybody want to work under this brutal mgmt team and subject themselves to a career with such intense unrest?

I myself used to want to work for NWA, however after seeing first hand how they do business ( i use this term loosely). I want to stay as far from anything with red paint on it as I can.

Good luck to you all
Schmitty

 

[Terry Hunter]

All employee's should be recalled by the end of this year possibly a little into 2007. Pilot interviewing off the street is going to start soon after.

And how will AMFA factor into the equation?

 

[YourPilotFriend]

And how will AMFA factor into the equation?

All former mechanics were already offered their jobs back and many took it.

 

[YourPilotFriend]

The question is....Who in their right mind still wants to work there? In the next two years most airlines will be hiring again. So why would anybody want to work under this brutal mgmt team and subject themselves to a career with such intense unrest?

I myself used to want to work for NWA, however after seeing first hand how they do business ( i use this term loosely). I want to stay as far from anything with red paint on it as I can.

Good luck to you all
Schmitty

They still offer a pension. haha

 

[densoo]

The Association of Flight Attendants said that workers who don't respond to recall letters within a week will be assumed to have resigned.

I guess this was the wrong time to take that one-week vacation.

 

[MQAAord]

The Association of Flight Attendants said that workers who don't respond to recall letters within a week will be assumed to have resigned.

I think I had 10 or 14 days or something like that to respond to my F/A recall letter from AA in 2002. The company expects you to be sitting there pining away just WAITING for them to recall you, and that you'll JUMP at the chance to come back. Oh, and that you'll fall all over yourself thanking them for the opportunity to! Recall school was 2 days of sunshine being blown up our neither-regions, kind of a bitter pill after being thrown out on my arse not 6 months earlier with 2 days notice. (Not to mention getting refurloughed again 6 months later!)

A long, long time ago it was my biggest dream to work for NWA (as a F/A). It was the airline my dad always used to fly, and it would have gotten me back up north. I had my chance, an interview in Jan of 1997, but about halfway into the interview (that was going very, very well) the interviewer said they had to verify my height since I was so close to their 5'2" cutoff. So they stuck me in front of a wall with a post-it note at where 5'2" was supposed to be, and I came up 1/2" too short. That was the end of the interview. I went home devastated. Now, that event just makes me believe in divine fate. Cause there's no way in hell I'd ever work there now!

 

[Hulk Hogan]

What is going on with AFA? Are they negotiating? Any clue as to when the Judge will rule? Seems to me he has had plenty of time to get caught up with the case.

 

[Hulk Hogan]

Anyone know when these FA's were furloughed. I would guess the recalled would just widen the gap between yes and no (more towards no) if a vote ever came about.

 

[Whataboutbob]

Im guessing NWA wants to recall while the imposed terms are in effect hoping that alot of the flight attendants will not want to come back under those terrible work rules. So Im guessing most don't come back and NWA gets to hire year one twenty somethings. Thats hardball business and not right if you ask me.

 

[Hutchman]

What is going on with AFA? Are they negotiating? Any clue as to when the Judge will rule? Seems to me he has had plenty of time to get caught up with the case.

According to the release there will be permanent vacancies begining Sept. 30. My money is the strike will start on the 29th.

 

[eaglefly]

ALL should accept recall. Once CHAOS is initiated then that many more can participate.

Should be fun to stick it to these ethically bankrupt crooks.

If they're are allowed to bully those holding the last stand, NWA employees will forever wallow in fear.

This is a great opportunity for the furloughees to demonstrate solidarity and the concept of honesty and ehtics to those that have run roughshod over their workers for too long.

 

[Dumb Pilot]

This is a great opportunity for the furloughees to demonstrate solidarity and the concept of honesty and ehtics to those that have run roughshod over their workers for too long.

You got the wrong airline pal. The "It's all about me" attitude rules around here. Solidarity? Hum? yeah sure.

 

[eaglefly]

You got the wrong airline pal. The "It's all about me" attitude rules around here. Solidarity? Hum? yeah sure.

You're right.

The pilots demonstrated that by their wimpering beating, corrupt infighting and ultimate embarrasment.

The mechanics..............well what can be said there, except simply THE embarrassmnet of the industry.

The management................yep, DEFINATELY all about me.

The F/A's who are being expected to work for almost literally peanuts are the ONLY work group there left with self respect.

Hopefully, they won't walk quietly into the gaschamber.

It's that Litterbox's last hope.

I say to them........shovel out those pilot and mechanic turds and clean the sand !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NuGuy]

All employee's should be recalled by the end of this year possibly a little into 2007. Pilot interviewing off the street is going to start soon after.

Our local poster from a cubical on the 3rd floor of NATCO is not telling the whole story.

1) No body is comming back from recall. The acceptance rate is now down in the low teens. Managament has been forced to issue "short notice recalls" because no one wants to come back to work.

2) The rate of sick and fatigue calls with the FAs has apparently gone throught the roof, thus the recall of the FAs.

3) Thanks to a quirk in the pilot's contract, most people now out on furlough can remain so if they desire, so the company will be forced to hire off the street, despite what will probably amount to 600 pilots on voluntary furlough. These pilots are doing the smart thing, and waiting until there's a bunch of newbies under them to come back.

Nu

 

[xjhawk]

hell, if i were a mesaba or pinnacle flight attendant..i would apply, its like more pay, better benefits, and what the he!!, they are already putting up with NWA and crappy management.

 

[Lear70]

The question is....Who in their right mind still wants to work there? In the next two years most airlines will be hiring again. So why would anybody want to work under this brutal mgmt team and subject themselves to a career with such intense unrest?

Just about any regional guy would be happy to turn over his Mesa or Freedom I.D. for a NWA badge. Their management is on the same plan of abuse, it'd just be a different name and an eventual pay raise, sad as that may be.

I myself used to want to work for NWA, however after seeing first hand how they do business ( i use this term loosely). I want to stay as far from anything with red paint on it as I can.

Absolutely. I'm expecting very few, if ANY, of the pilot furloughees to want to come back until there's so many people junior to them they won't have to sit reserve.

There's no way people from the airlines like Spirit, Champion, airTran, Frontier, etc who, in days past, would have left a nice left seat job at those carriers to jump to a major, will EVER apply to the likes of NWA, not to mention DAL or USAirways under the new contracts. They're just better off staying where they are or going to CAL / FDX / UPS / SWA.

Good luck to you all
Schmitty

Yeah, good luck to ALL of us,,, "Boy did I pick the wrong era to become a pilot".

 

[YourPilotFriend]

There are a lot of people who will apply to NWA, in fcat I believe everyone in the regionals probably will, even the ones that say they won't. Also compass will be hiring street captains as that company doesn't have any staff. Also the current NWA mainline has a high rate of sttrition with pilots leaving for FedEx, UPS, or for a foriegn contract. They are expanding the south american routes with a need for hundreds of additional pilots ontop of the furloughees, retirees, and the rate of attrition. Personally I expect if NWa emerges from bankruptcy with the pension intact we will see at least 1500 pilots leave immediately. Since the difference between their pension and expected income could be supplemented by working part time at a super market and they would be home every night. So any regional airline pilot would be smart to go to NWA next year since by 2010 they will make captain.

 

[YourPilotFriend]

Also NWa may provide better job security as its cost of operations is almost less than that of SWA. By the end of this year NWA will have a lower cost of operation than any current LCC so it should stabilize a little bit.

Edit: I left a whole bunch of stuff out. So not to get flamed I have to explain. NWA has an AVERAGE CASM of 10.99 cents a mile and SWA has a SINGLE CASM of 8.05 cents a mile. Actually, when the fuel hedges run out SWA is about 30% higher in cost. The competing seat on NWA which is a domestic economy ticket actually has the same CASM as SWA. SWA sells only one seat a domestic economy ticket. NWA has domestic economy and First class; International economy and business class; regional economy and first class. When you average all of those together you get a cost of operation significantly higher than the CASM at SWA. However, you have to look at the CASM for the competing seat to have a valid comparison. When you look at it from that standpoint, my arguement is very valid.