Order prevents mechanics at NWA from engaging in any actions that disrupt
 

Not just UA?

...A federal judge in Minneapolis late Monday issued an order preventing mechanics at Northwest Airlines from engaging in any actions that disrupt the company's flight schedule. The airline had requested a temporary restraining order against the mechanics, accusing them of conducting an illegal work slowdown heading into one of the busiest travel weeks of the year...
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/busi...Mechanics.html


AND: "While we regret having to take this step, there is clear evidence that a deliberate and organized job action orchestrated by AMFA's leadership is taking place," said Bob Brodin, Northwest senior vice president - labor relations. ``These actions are a clear violation of the Railway Labor Act and threaten the travel plans of thousands of Northwest passengers over the holidays. We have asked the court to order AMFA and its members to cease all illegal job actions immediately or risk facing contempt of court fines or other sanctions.''
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001120/mn_northwe.html


AND: This story is also to be found in todays WSJ!

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 11-21-2000).]

US District Court Judge David Doty yesterday granted a request from Northwest Airlines for a temporary restraining order preventing the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) and its members from engaging in illegal job actions that the carrier alleged are causing flight delays and cancellations.

Judge Doty scheduled a hearing on a preliminary injunction for November 29.

In accusing the mechanics of a work slowdown, Northwest Attorney Tim Thornton told the judge that from November 13-19, delays due to maintenance were up 145 percent to more than 260 daily, compared with slightly more than 106 during the same period a year ago.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/11/974802558.html


UPDATE: For Northwest, the temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge David Doty in Minneapolis is meant to prevent work slowdowns by employees who are members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association.

``The only way the company can respond to a situation like this is with overtime,'' Northwest lawyer Tim Thornton said. ``Every mechanic in the system is refusing overtime. There's no other explanation for that other than a concerted job action.''

AMFA attorney Nicholas Ganath called Northwest's statistics ``unfounded voodoo,'' but said union leaders would abide by Doty's order, and ``keep the planes safe and on time for the holiday season.''

AMFA represents 9,500 members who have been seeking a new contract for more than four years. Northwest, the nation's fourth-largest carrier, said the two sides remain far apart on reaching a labor deal.
http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/001121/airlines_m_4.html

AND: "Union leaders probably feel they have to take the company to the brink of a strike to convince workers that they extracted the best possible terms," he said. But, he added, like the carrier, he doesn't believe the National Mediation Board would permit a strike until after the holidays.
http://www2.marketwatch.com/news/yho...30BCB240992%7D

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 11-21-2000).]

Northwest went back to court Wednesday to claim its mechanics were violating a temporary restraining order against slowdown tactics.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/2000...ited_dc_7.html


AND: US District Court Judge David Doty yesterday said he will consider holding the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) and its members at Northwest Airlines in contempt of court for purposefully delaying flights through an illegal work slowdown.

Judge Doty said the mechanics' union must explain at a hearing next Wednesday why it should not be considered in violation of a temporary restraining order issued Monday after Northwest reported an unusually high number of maintenance-related flight cancellations.

Northwest attorney Tim Thornton said the situation has worsened since the temporary restraining order was issued by Doty and he vowed to pursue fines against the union that could top USD$100 million.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/11/974980393.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 11-23-2000).]

Travelers should be safe from strike-induced flight cancellations at least until after Christmas. United (UAL: news, msgs) and Northwest (NWAC: news, msgs) airlines have managed to block any potential labor actions during the holiday travel season by getting temporary restraining orders in federal court.
http://www2.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.a sp?source=blq/yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7BEF9FF922%2D30E1%2D4EDC%2DBD 35%2DECF718E2AEC3%7D


Northwest have managed to block any potential labor actions during the holiday travel season through Christmas by obtaining temporary restraining orders in federal court.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/11/975245022.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 11-26-2000).]

Northwest, also suffering a rash of delays and cancellations, late on Nov. 20, was granted a restraining order against the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, the union representing its 10,000 mechanics and cleaners. A hearing on a preliminary injunction is scheduled for Nov. 29.

Northwest, St. Paul, Minn., has been in contract talks with the AMFA for a year. But on Nov. 2, the mediation board adjourned the negotiations indefinitely to give AMFA a change to "re-evaluate" its economic proposals, which Northwest claims are "wildly unrealistic."

AMFA's national director, O.V. Delle-Femine, immediately accused Northwest in a federal lawsuit of bad-faith bargaining, and earlier this month asked the mediation board to release the Northwest mechanics from negotiations and start the clock ticking toward a strike.
http://travel.wsj.com/n/SB974918076327774277-main.html


AND:Both unions have repeatedly and vociferously denied any such slowdowns and have vigorously contested the charges.
http://www2.marketwatch.com/news/yho...9FF7C73134C%7D

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 11-27-2000).]

Statement From Northwest Airlines Mechanics Union:

We believe our economic position is just. There is a national and local shortage of airline mechanics. Enrollment in the three Minnesota training programs for Aviation Maintenance Technicians has dropped from a total of 920 students in the early 1990s, to 275 students today--and some of today's skilled graduates are being attracted into less-stressful, higher-paying jobs in the automotive and computer industries.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001129/mn_amfa.html

U.S. District Court Judge David Doty yesterday extended the temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) and its members. Judge Doty issued his ruling after a hearing on Northwest's motion for a preliminary injunction and on the Court's order to AMFA and its members to show cause why they should not be held in contempt for their refusal to abide by the TRO.

The mechanics continued to deny any organized work slowdown. AMFA attorney Lee Seham discounted charts of delays and cancellations presented by Northwest. "We have evidence that codes are being manipulated and statistics are being manipulated," he said.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/11/975590765.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 11-30-2000).]

NWA mechanics on Wednesday raised safety concerns about being forced to work 12- to 16-hour shifts to complete necessary aircraft maintenance.

Steve MacFarlane, president of Local 33 of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, said the mandatory overtime comes within the letter of the law, but has caused an increase in fatigue-related incidents.

``Over the last month they have increased the occurrence of mandatory overtime. Recently they have done it back-to-back, the same mechanic working as many as nine days in a row, 12- to 16-hour days,'' MacFarlane said.

MacFarlane said one mechanic was hospitalized after a fatigue-related accident Sunday, two were involved in near-accidents in traffic, and another almost poked through a plane's fuselage with a tool.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/busi...Mechanics.html

Northwest Airlines (Nasdaq: NWAC - news) and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) will resume face-to-face negotiations during the week of January 8th. The resumption of negotiations comes after the parties met today with the National Mediation Board (NMB) in Washington, D.C. to present new proposals for further negotiations. After reviewing the submissions of both parties, the NMB concluded that a resumption of negotiations was warranted.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001221/mn_northwe.html

Northwest Airlines has resumed contract negotiations with its union mechanics, ending a two-month recess that included a clash over an alleged work slowdown.

The talks were put back on track Monday by the National Mediation Board after both sides revised their economic proposals. Northwest sweetened its wage and pension proposal while the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association backed away from its demand for raises of more than 100 percent.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/busi...Mechanics.html

Bill Bailey, president of AMFA Local 35, which represents 340
Northwest mechanics in Duluth, Minn., said there was some
disappointment over the union's concession, but that the mechanics
are trying to be realistic.
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebO...icle=405753285

The Northwest Airlines mechanics union, citing progress before the National Mediation Board adjourned talks between the union and the airline on January 12, today called for negotiations to resume ``with or without the Board.''

``We're baffled by the Board's decision to cut off the talks after only a few days when real progress was being made,'' said Steve MacFarlane, president of Local 33 of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA). ``Although we still have a way to go, in that short time a number of key issues were resolved. We urge Northwest to rejoin us at the bargaining table, with or without the Board, so both parties can return as soon as possible to focusing completely on serving Northwest air travelers.''
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010115/mn_amfa.html

The following statement was issued today by Steve MacFarlane, president of Local 33 of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, in response to Northwest's allegation that the airline's lower position in the latest on-time rankings was due to ``an illegal work action'' by mechanics:

Whenever the on-time rankings news is bad, Northwest's first instinct is to blame its own employees instead of taking responsibility for not putting the right contingencies in place. Do we need to remind Northwest of the terrible weather that recently savaged schedules in the airline's two largest northern hubs, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Detroit? Or about skyrocketing air traffic volumes and the overcrowded Air Traffic Control System? Or about the shortage of mechanics that often forces us to work repeated overtime shifts to the point of exhaustion and beyond? Northwest needs to do a much better job of planning for predictable contingencies. Next time, don't blame the hard-working mechanics who have been putting in long hours without a new contract to keep Northwest operations functioning.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010119/mn_amfa.html

Northwest Airlines and its mechanics offered separate proposals to the National Mediation Board on Tuesday so the board could determine whether further negotiations might lead to a contract agreement.

The board asked each side on Monday to submit a settlement offer, said Mike Young, who represents Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association Local 33 in the negotiations. AMFA represents Northwest's 10,000 mechanics and cleaners.
http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/010130/northwest_.html

The board asked each side on Monday to submit a settlement offer, said Mike Young, who represents Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association Local 33 in the negotiations. AMFA represents Northwest's 10,000 mechanics and cleaners.

Both sides remain far apart on wage and retirement issues. After initially demanding raises of more than 100 percent, the union lowered its wage demand to an initial 48 percent increase. Northwest entered the session offering initial pay raises of 17 percent.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2001/01/980942428.html

Northwest's mechanics union is expecting to be released from mediation and plans to follow up with a strike vote after the National Mediation Board today adjourned contract talks between the union and the carrier.


Earlier this week Northwest and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents about 10,000 of the carrier's mechanics and cleaners, presented the board with separate settlement offers. Bill Reis, VP of AMFA Local 33, told AviationNow.com Thursday afternoon that the board did not accept the proposals and again adjourned the talks.
http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/new...s/fnwa0201.xml