NWA strikers are proving they won't go quietly
Doug Grow, Star Tribune

Last update: October 17, 2005

Striking Northwest mechanics may be bloodied and bruised, but they haven't stopped swinging back.

In a few days, members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association will begin targeting Northwest Airline's board of directors for what the union believes is the board's part in the "looting" of the airline.

Although all 13 board members are to get their day in the AMFA light, the first target is historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who joined the board in 1997.

Kearns Goodwin is to introduce her newest book, "The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," next week in New York. AMFA will be at her first book signing, handing out pamphlets to all. "The Great Emancipator Meets A Great Prevaricator" the two-page pamphlet is headlined.

AMFA intends to shadow Kearns Goodwin on her national book tour. Pamphlets also will be distributed to Northwest customers throughout the airline's system.

Included in the pamphlet are charges that board members sat idly by while workers were laid off and Northwest executives made millions dumping stock. Additionally, the pamphlets point out that Kearns Goodwin, who is accused of being a union buster, ran into plagiarism allegations in 2002. (Her publisher at the time paid an undisclosed amount to settle the case.)

"Goodwin is hoping her new book will rehabilitate her reputation," the pamphlet reads. "... But if Kearns Goodwin really wants to embrace honesty and integrity, she should disavow Northwest's union-busting policies and resign from the company's board."

This tactic is the brainchild of Ray Rogers, who runs Corporate Campaign, Inc., out of New York and was hired by AMFA three weeks ago. Minnesotans may be familiar with Rogers. He directed a corporate campaign during a strike by meatpackers in the 1980s, a strike that was crushed by Hormel.

Northwest's mechanics appear to be on the verge of being crushed themselves. They'll soon vote on an offer that would not only slash wages and benefits, but that would save just 500 of 4,100 jobs the union had when it went on strike Aug. 19. If accepted, the offer would mean that there'd be more scabs than AMFA members left on the airline's payroll.

So is this tactic just a last-gasp, mean-spirited effort to bring down board members with the mechanics?

"There's nothing mean about it," said Ted Ludwig, president of AMFA Local 33. "It's just facts. The members of the board need to be held accountable for what has happened. The people in charge have wrecked this company."

Rogers scoffed at the idea the plan is mean spirited. "She and others on the board set policies that have done real harm to thousands of workers and whole communities," Rogers said. "They're inflicting despair and they don't care."

Rogers said his organization has nearly completed work on pamphlets on two more board members.

"Board members don't seem to think they can be touched by the harm they do," Rogers said. "They're wrong."

Kearns Goodwin could not be reached for comment.