Striking mechanics to vote on NWA offer
Liz Fedor, Star Tribune

Last update: October 14, 2005 at 11:40 PM

Mechanics at Northwest Airlines will vote on a contract that might save only 500 of the 4,100 jobs that union members held when they went on strike Aug. 19.

Union leaders decided late Friday to submit Northwest's latest offer to a vote after rejecting two earlier proposals that could have saved more jobs.

"This is not a tentative agreement," said Jeff Mathews, contract coordinator for the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA). "This was AMFA's negotiating committee making a very difficult decision to allow the AMFA membership to have a say in this process."

On Aug. 19, AMFA's leaders rejected Northwest's offer to preserve 2,750 mechanics jobs and pay up to 26 weeks of severance for the 1,350 mechanics, cleaners and custodians targeted for layoffs. In September, negotiators rejected a Northwest proposal that would have retained 1,080 jobs for mechanics and provided up to 16 weeks' severance for employees losing their jobs.

Northwest's latest offer would preserve 500 to 539 mechanics jobs in Detroit and the Twin Cities, the union said. It includes only four weeks of severance pay for people whose jobs would be eliminated.

It's unclear whether Northwest would retain a maintenance operation in Duluth.

Mathews, in a written update to members, did not refer to the earlier offers. But he did emphasize the gravity of the current situation.

Northwest has been hiring permanent replacement workers since Sept. 13 and has filled about half of its mechanics ranks with AMFA members who crossed picket lines, AMFA members who were laid off before the strike and temporary replacements who accepted permanent jobs. AMFA's summary said "approximately 541 to 580 scabs will remain on the property."

Mathews declined to comment on how the returning strikers and replacements could be merged into one workforce. AMFA members have picketed outside the homes of members who crossed picket lines, and they blocked buses carrying temporary workers.

Northwest management imposed a new contract for its maintenance workers on Aug. 20 and said it meets the airline's cost-savings goal of $203 million per year.

Before the strike, the average Twin Cities mechanic at Northwest was making about $70,000 per year. If the union accepts Northwest's proposal, returning workers would make about 25 percent less.

John Remington, an industrial relations professor at the University of Minnesota, said he is not surprised that Northwest intends to keep the permanent replacement workers. "They made a commitment," Remington said. "They have to honor that, or nobody would ever believe them again."

AMFA leaders were given the terms of the offer during meetings Thursday and Friday at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.

"We are pleased that the AMFA leadership is giving employees the opportunity to vote on the proposed terms of an agreement," Northwest said Friday night in a statement.

Replacements cost millions

From the beginning, AMFA leaders argued that a strike would cripple Northwest. But the airline spent millions of dollars lining up outside vendors and about 1,200 temporary replacements and 350 managers to do the work formerly done by union mechanics.

AMFA, an independent union based in New Hampshire, received little support from other Northwest unions, most of which are affiliated with the AFL-CIO. Travelers also proved willing to cross AMFA's picket lines, despite warnings by the union about the quality of repairs done by replacement workers.

Earlier this month, a Minnesota judge denied unemployment compensation benefits for striking AMFA mechanics. So they were left without severance pay or unemployment compensation. The judge did rule in favor of about 700 AMFA custodians and cleaners, because Northwest eliminated all of their jobs and contracted with less-expensive, third-party vendors to do their work.

In an interview, Mathews declined to speculate on the chances that the offer would be ratified. But he acknowledged that this is the airline's final offer, and it is essentially the terms of the imposed contract.

"This is not a sellout by AMFA or your negotiating committee; this is a chance to vote your destiny," Mathews said in his report to members. "Quite possibly this could be your last vote on this property and your opportunity to tell the company and the industry where you stand.

"There are no highlights in this contract offer from the company. When you look at the details you will be hard-pressed to find anything good."

'Meeting,' not 'negotiations'

When the strike began, AMFA's leaders and rank and file said the airline's operations would be severely hampered by the strike. They argued that operational problems would be part of the leverage that would get Northwest back to the bargaining table.

But on Friday, Day 56 of the strike, both sides talked about the "meeting" they had concluded. They did not use the term "negotiations."

Essentially, Northwest management made a final offer, one that did not engender enthusiasm on the part of union leaders. But it preserves some jobs in the airline's two biggest hubs.

Mathews was blunt in his characterization of the proposal. He said Andy Roberts, Northwest's executive vice president of operations, stated that he had promised the permanent replacement workers that he would keep them on the payroll. "He will keep a scab with one month of service to the company instead of bringing back a 20-year employee," Mathews wrote.

He added that the ratification process "will take 14 days once we receive the full text offer from the company."

Northwest filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 14 and is attempting to negotiate concessionary contracts with all of its unions.