Minnesota judge: NWA mechanics not eligible for benefits
Tony Kennedy, Star Tribune
October 4, 2005


Striking mechanics at Northwest Airlines have been denied state unemployment benefits by a judge who ruled Monday that the airline's final contract offer was reasonable.

"The terms were not so onerous that the workers had to leave" their jobs, wrote Richard E. Croft, an unemployment law judge for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Croft's ruling, effective for as long as the labor dispute at Northwest "is in active progress," applies to about 1,600 Northwest mechanics and maintenance inspectors who walked off the job Aug. 19. As members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), they rejected a company proposal to cut their wages by 25 percent and eliminate more than 50 percent of their jobs.

In Minnesota, striking workers are not eligible for unemployment benefits unless they are covered by an exemption. Croft ruled Friday that such an exemption applies to upward of 700 AMFA-represented cleaners and custodians who also have been on strike against Northwest since Aug. 19.

AMFA attorney Nick Granath said the union will immediately appeal Croft's latest ruling.

Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said the company was reviewing the text of the ruling and had no comment. The decision, if upheld, will save the airline from paying higher unemployment insurance taxes.

The union argued in the cases of both groups of workers that Northwest's contract demands were so unreasonable as to constitute a lockout. The judge sided with AMFA regarding the custodians and cleaners, but not with the higher-paid mechanics and maintenance inspectors.

"A 25 percent cut for these workers [mechanics and maintenance inspectors] would not have such a harsh impact on them as a 25 percent cut on lower-wage workers such as the custodians and cleaners," Croft wrote Monday in his decision.

"The inconsistency screams out for an appeal," Granath said.

Croft wrote in his ruling that new pay rates proposed by Northwest for its mechanics and maintenance inspectors were "similar to those that other airlines pay."

According to testimony in the case, Northwest proposed cutting the pay of lead inspectors from $33.05 an hour to $24.56 an hour.

For the mechanics, Northwest proposed to cut their hourly rate from $30.89 to $22.95.

"These new terms and conditions were not so unreasonable that the technicians and inspectors had no alternative but to leave," Croft wrote.

When the strike began, Northwest employed about 2,900 mechanics and inspectors who were represented by AMFA. Of those, about 55 percent worked in Minnesota.

During the strike, Northwest has continued to operate using replacement mechanics, managers and third-party vendors to handle aircraft maintenance.