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-   Northwest WorldPerks (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/northwest-worldperks-497/)
-   -   TOPIC: Strike as a General Issue >> Your Thoughts (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/northwest-worldperks/464604-topic-strike-general-issue-your-thoughts.html)

mspguy Aug 20, 2005 8:22 am

Thanks!
 

Originally Posted by mjcasta

Thanks MJ!

LTRS Aug 20, 2005 8:23 am


Originally Posted by wldtrvlr
It is good to see that some of the NW employees would like to keep their jobs and still have a company to work for.

Thank you for voting NO and for flying. It appears that the FA's are a bit smarter and/or have a better leader than the mechanics.

Yeah, and if the NW mechanics were as smart as all the FT'ers they would work for FREE instead of giving back a mere $100 million! That way, no matter how badly mismanaged the company was they would be able to keep their jobs and still have a company to work for!! ;)

W@nderer Aug 20, 2005 8:28 am

DTW is going to see some delays due to thunderstorms earlier.

I spoke to a friend from MSP and they said everything is running as good if not better than expected....throughout the system!

LTRS Aug 20, 2005 8:30 am

Bye Bye NWA
 
And bye bye to my NW status, because I won't be able to make it this year. I won't cross a picket line. And frankly, shame on the NW FA's and pilots for doing so. :td:

Michiganmiler Aug 20, 2005 8:31 am

It may be that the AMFA is the problem....
 

Originally Posted by StSebastian
There's a lot more work involved than just doing line checks. Just an "oil change & lube" alone will take several people an entire shift or two to complete. Overhaul work would pull more people off for even longer periods of time -- it's not a trivial task to do a D check on a widebody plane taking everything apart and putting it back together.

Plus, 1500 total people does not mean they're all working all at the same time for every hour in the week. If each of them is working a 40 hour week and there are 168 hours in the week, then that's 23% of them working at any given time, or 381 mechanics available systemwide on an average basis. With the number of little things that have to be done to repair planes, that's not all that many. Including that these are also the ground crew that run the tugs and other ground equipment as well as the aircraft cleaners, that's really not many people left to fix anything. Marginally normal operations might be able to be maintained, but anything irregular will likely cause it to fall to pieces.

There aren't really any spare aircraft to put in service when something fails (see the 747-200 recently parked on 6L at GUM) and there aren't the maintenance resources to fix planes to prevent them from going out of service, so I think we're going to see targeted cancellations and the majority of service maintained at least for the first few days. Beyond that is anyone's guess, but the stock market seems to be hedging their bets.

Back in 2001 at the last contract agreement, there were 9,300 active members of AMFA for NW. Today less than half of those are left to go on strike because they were asked to reduce by yet another half. I see the ultimate target as pushing out the AMFA represented positions from the NWA company structure and outsourcing that to either one of the Airlink carriers or whatever external private company can do that as low-bid. Whether that's ultimately good or bad I'm not sure, but I think that having experienced, knowledgeable, and specialized employees within a company that are dedicated to the company doing well at all levels is generally (but not always) preferable to trying to work with an outside vendor.

As for pay, the approved 2001 contract is right on AMFA's site. Someone working 40 hours a week as a Technician would make $28/hr for $58,240/yr (slightly more for A&P licenses). While I don't know if there's been any change since then, the likelyhood it has increased is quite small and much more likely that it has since been cut. There's not really any bonus for seniority in the pay scale, so the technicians left that have 20 years' seniority are paid at that same rate. That's not all that much for the experience that these people have in doing the work and getting it done well compared to a number of other industries.

The AMFA seems to be one of the more militant unions remaining in American industry. Like most unions it appears that they have little ability to surey the horizon and move proactively to position their members for the inevitable changes that markets bring. Few unions seem to apprehend the necessity to help produce more value for the customer in order to maintain a market position and make possible prosperity for all. NW cannot continue to loose millions upon millions. In the end the airline would be better off with another union representing their mechanics if there must be a union at all. Has the AMFA comprehended what has happened at United, US Air, Eastern, etc., etc., etc.?

peachfront Aug 20, 2005 8:32 am

DTW strike news thread
 
I see an MSP thread already. Maybe a DTW thread would be good as well.

My husband's flight, 1476, MSY to DTW, is cancelled on Sunday, Aug. 21. They have rebooked him through MEM.

mjcasta Aug 20, 2005 8:35 am

What would you do??
 
Replied instead of edit . . . sorry

mjcasta Aug 20, 2005 8:36 am

What would you do???
 
Reagrdless of your position on the strike . . .

This is not a debate on who is right or wrong . . .

What would you do??

a. Your job asks your office of 100 people to vote on eliminating the positions of half your co-workers. Keep in mind that your office used to have 200 workers and half have already been eliminated . . . .

b. You are comfortable that you may survive the purge; but, will need to expect a paycheck which is 30% less than it was last week.

c. You will now need to make a 60% larger contribution to your insurance policies which further reduces your net pay.

d. Keep in mind that you have over 20 years of service to your company for this part . . . Your traditional pension will be eliminated and you will now be placed into a defined pension and/or 401K program. The average loss of value is around 40% and you will now need to contribute at least 15% of your pay to the 401K as retirement is around the corner.

e. You will now need to further commmute to work as stations and positions will be eliminated through base closing and consolidation. At what point does relocating your family or becoming a stranger to your kids become just not worth it.

When you add it up, the actual loss in net pay is around 45-55%.

Sooooo, what would you do????

DHAST Aug 20, 2005 8:38 am

Two more "quicktakes" from me.

I've seen *so* many "average" salary figures tossed around (various threads and other forums) for different aviation careers or jobs. If there's one thing I can say about the things I do know, is that the "average" numbers tossed around tell very little about the "big picture" and simplify things way to much to derive any real meaning or discussion from them.

Second, as far as scabs, the technical term for those who seek employment by taking a union man's job, go, if it wasn't for them, NW would either have to settle with the mechanics or go out of business. Part of the union's job is to, um, discourage replacement workers from taking a union man's job.

mjcasta Aug 20, 2005 8:40 am

What would you do???
 
Reagrdless of your position on the strike . . .

This is not a debate on who is right or wrong . . .

What would you do??

a. Your job asks your office of 100 people to vote on eliminating the positions of half your co-workers. Keep in mind that your office used to have 200 workers and half have already been eliminated . . . .

b. You are comfortable that you may survive the purge; but, will need to expect a paycheck which is 30% less than it was last week.

c. You will now need to make a 60% larger contribution to your insurance policies which further reduces your net pay.

d. Keep in mind that you have over 20 years of service to your company for this part . . . Your traditional pension will be eliminated and you will now be placed into a defined pension and/or 401K program. The average loss of value is around 40% and you will now need to contribute at least 15% of your pay to the 401K as retirement is around the corner.

e. You will now need to further commmute to work as stations and positions will be eliminated through base closing and consolidation. At what point does relocating your family or becoming a stranger to your kids become just not worth it.

When you add it up, the actual loss in net pay is around 45-55%.

Finally, unless you have over 18 years of seniority, a vote to accept the NWA contract terms means you have accepted a vote to end your job.

Sooooo, what would you do????

DHAST Aug 20, 2005 8:41 am


Originally Posted by Poopdeck90210
and up to a maximum of 26 weeks of severance payments for laid-off workers[/B]

Wow! This severance offering is as good as management normally gets in corporate america. :) ^

-Alan

Gee Alan, that sentence is loaded with as much fine print as the availability of a standard 25k domestic award, and you think that's a deal?

mjcasta Aug 20, 2005 8:43 am

Wages
 

Originally Posted by yogimax
You seem to be enamored with the low cost airlines. Please compare their salary schedules with those of NW. You complain that NW is not paying a "fair wage." Is $50,000 a year for a custodian or cleaner a fair wage?

Wages for Custodians Cleaners range from $8.67 - $15.55 hour after 10 years.

Marq Aug 20, 2005 8:44 am

I would go find another job.

No one is forcing the mechanics to stay at NWA. They are free to work for whomever they want.

Marc

UpgradeMe Aug 20, 2005 8:44 am


What would you do???
I'd start with a better title for my thread.

yogimax Aug 20, 2005 8:46 am


Originally Posted by mjcasta
Reagrdless of your position on the strike . . .

This is not a debate on who is right or wrong . . .

?

Pleeease... let's not be disingenuous here. You have an obvious pro-union bias. Admit it and make your point. Don't try to make it sound like an impartial evaluation.


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