Union: NWA trying to 'gouge' Mesaba labor
The leader of the ALPA said pressure from Northwest has forced the regional carrier to try to get unrealistic labor cuts.
Liz Fedor, Star Tribune
The head of an international pilots union said Thursday that Northwest Airlines cannot act like an innocent bystander in Mesaba Airlines' drive to get its employees to accept deep wage cuts.
Duane Woerth, president of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), said Mesaba is pushing for the labor savings in an effort to secure regional jets from Northwest in a bidding war among regional carriers.
"They're trying to say they have clean hands," Woerth said of Northwest. But Woerth, a former Northwest board member, argued that the airline is attempting to "gouge" labor at its regional carrier partners. Northwest is Mesaba's only customer. Both airlines are trying to reorganize in bankruptcy proceedings.
Woerth, whose union represents pilots at 39 carriers, said Mesaba is proposing to pay its pilots below the levels paid by regional carriers for US Airways, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Under the current contract, a starting Mesaba pilot earns $21,000 a year; on average, Mesaba pilots make about $45,000 a year.
Woerth said pilots across the country view the Mesaba negotiations as a "watershed event" because the regional carrier wants to pay rates that would set a new low for the industry.
Woerth flatly stated that he will not sign a contract for Mesaba pilots that includes the 19.4 percent labor cost cuts over six years that management has been demanding since December. While any pilot contract must be reviewed by the Mesaba pilots executive council and ratified by the members, Woerth has the final say on whether a union contract will take effect.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gregory Kishel ruled a week ago that Mesaba can impose pay rates and work rules on its three biggest unions at any time, provided it gives 10 days' notice.
"This bargaining needs to get serious, because the judge isn't the final arbiter. I have the final word on the pilot contract or a strike," said Woerth, who was in the Twin Cities to meet with Mesaba pilots and to conduct media interviews. "If they want a legal war, a strike, they'll get it all."
The pilots, mechanics and flight attendants have formed a Mesaba Labor Coalition, and they are jointly fighting the degree of concessions management is seeking. Each has offered some labor cutbacks over three years. "We are very eager to work out a consensual agreement with all three unions, and we are going to do so at the table and not in the media," Mesaba spokeswoman Elizabeth Costello said Thursday.
She stressed that the airline has refrained from starting the 10-day countdown before imposing terms because management strongly prefers negotiated deals with its unions.
She also denied that Northwest "has any controlling influence on the [Mesaba] negotiations."
Mesaba is a subsidiary of MAIR Holdings Inc. Northwest holds a large block of MAIR shares and historically has held multiple seats on its board.
"Issues relating to Mesaba are best addressed in negotiations between Mesaba and its unions," Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said. "We expect Mesaba to continue to operate reliably."
Northwest filed for bankruptcy in September in New York; Mesaba filed a month later in Minneapolis, after Northwest skipped some payments owed to Mesaba. Northwest also notified Mesaba that it will take all of the Avro jets out of Mesaba's fleet, so the regional airline has been focused on keeping its core fleet of 49 Saab turboprops.
Tim Evenson, president of the Mesaba Association of Flight Attendants, said the company has not negotiated with his union for 44 days. However, he said, the two sides agreed Thursday to add a mediator to the talks.
Nathan Winch, a negotiator for the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, said that mechanics had several meetings last week with company negotiators but that no sessions have been held since Kishel's ruling Friday.
Mesaba spokeswoman Costello said company leaders want to use mediators with all three unions as a means of helping both sides reach deals.
"We are not Pollyannas," said Tom Wychor, chairman of the Mesaba pilots union. "We understand there are problems with this company." But Wychor said the parties have been unable to forge agreements because the airline has been "asking for far more than they need."
In the past few years, Woerth said, ALPA leaders have dealt with bankruptcies at 19 airlines. He characterized Mesaba's approach and its demands of its labor unions as the most "egregious" he has seen.
Liz Fedor • 612-673-7709
