Is anyone going to stop flying Northwest, now that it looks like a strike

[KitchenWitch]

and that most of the striking workers will likely be fired and replaced?

[Bluebear]

1. In solidarity with my union brothers and sisters...

Allen Whipkey consoles his wife Bernadette who believes that she won't be getting her job back as a cleaner for Northwest Airlines if they go on strike. Bernadette has worked for Northwest for 29 years.

[KitchenWitch]

2. Exactly

I hate what NWA is doing....and has gotten away with for the past 20 years.

[Bluebear]

3. you have mail

[KitchenWitch]

4. And now you do!

[preciousdove]

5. I won't fly until Regime change but I support NW employees

Remember NW failed to make their payments for the airport right after 911. They never explained why. Did they think that we would go all the way to martial law and the airports would be nationalized and they wouldn't have to pay?

Also wonder if some of the put-options just before 911 ended up in the pockets of NW principals.

They feel they have the right to eliminate the unions and that the administration will back them up. Looks like they might just do that.

What I don't understand is the other unions. Despite how ticked they are about past slights this was the big one and they really looked un-union like and petty by publicly dissing one another.

NW has been playing the state and federal government for some time. It makes absolutely no sense not to charge people what it costs to fly so you can stay in business. Do we want to keep supporting a business that is that irresponsible?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. An acquaintance who has worked in airline labor relations tells me

that the REAL reason the majors are in so much trouble is that they borrowed piles of money during the 1980s to acquire other airlines, back when mergers and acquisitions guys were the media-created "folk heroes" of the business world. Now they're burdened with unsustainable debt, and the rise in fuel prices has pushed them over the edge.

In essence, they outsmarted themselves during the latest robber baron era.

However, being bigshot corporate executives, they can't imagine taking the losses out of their own hides instead of firing union workers or forcing a strike (which, according to this acquaintance, is exactly what they did by placing the mechanics in a "would you rather be shot or hanged" type of position).

In answer to the question, I may have to go to Japan in October. If so, I will find some other way.

[dodger501]

8. Same thing in the Tech industry, Lydia

Unsustainable debt from M & A.
Yeah, remember all those Fortune, Time, etc. magazine covers about these "swashbuckling" ass-kicking CEO's changing how business is done in the modern age?
This crap brought the tech industry down and has been bringing the airline industry down all along.

[dflprincess]

7. I'm hoping not to

but if my employer decides to send me to Nashville anytime soon I may not have a choice of airline. Fortunately, I haven't heard of any upcoming trips and if one does come up, I'll ask if I can fly something else.

[yankeefanatic3]

9. Pawlenty's problems/NWA

His solution is to tell the mechanics to "work something out" or whatever--I can't believe he's not having a hands on approach. And to be fair, Dayton and Coleman and the Congressmen and women need to step up to the plate as well.

I hope NWA will be ok by November! That's when I have to fly home to Minneapolis.

[question everything]

10. It is certainly easy to avoid them, now that SW has taken over ATA

or merged, or something.

Last April we flew ATA to Chicago Midway - really cheap tickets. On the way there, we found out that there was family emergency in LA. Without ever leaving the airport we got a ticket with SW to LAX right there and even at at a reasonable price.

On the other hand, I've read last week analysis from the strib and one thing, they said, was that NW visits a lot more ports than SW. Thus, I'd rather have NW operating and going to all the small communities in the Midwest, than just to only the ones where it is profitable.

The reality is that times are changing. Union bargaining has disappeared from most places of work as we moved from manufacturing society to a service-based one.

I am not sure even what unions are good for anymore - please don't flame me, we were always employed by companies without unions.

Time is changing. We need to have laws that strengthen our job security, our access to health care and our retirement. But, I think, really that the days of union are over.

The airline industry has been bleeding even before 9/11 and even though air traffic this year has returned to 2001 level, the large airlines are still hemorrhaging. Last March we flew NW to Amsterdam and the aircraft (DC-10) was packed. And I was told that NW has three flights a day from MPS, Memphis and Miami, I think, and all are packed. And yet they are losing money.

It is clear, though, that before they seek concession from the peons, they need to remove these golden parachutes that management has. The former CEO moved to that real obscene company - United Heath where the CEO gets more than $90 mil - and he got a lot of farewell goodies when he left, and it was clear by then that NW was in trouble.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. See my post above for why they're losing money with packed flights

:-(

[LissaM]

12. NWA got what they wanted.

This is what they wanted, seriously. Now they can declare bankruptcy, and screw over the pilots/flight attendants b/c once they declare bankruptcy's, union contracts are null and void.

I was supposed to go to Vancouver this weekend. That's not happening, I refuse to go.

[LissaM]

13. To add to my last post...

Even if the SCABS think that they are doing okay now, it won't last for much longer. On an airplane, Captains are approved to fly with some minor things written up, on a MEL (minimum equipment list). These things need to be fixed within a certain amount of days. After x amount, they can either be defered again, or the airplane is taken out of service (for example, a CA can keep defering a broken coffee pot.) However, sooner or later it's annoying to a crew that has to keep flying on it and needs to get fixed. On bigger items, the plane can be taken out of service.

Anyway, a normal amount of items on the MEL is around 250 for the airline... NWA now has 700 MELs. If you live anywhere by 494, you can probably tell by the large amount of airplanes that are stacking up outside the NWA hanger. Just an update... Thought you guys would like to know! :)

[myrna minx]

14. Screw Northwest. I stand with the union.

:hug:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. Yes, I may have to go to Japan in late Oct or early Nov, and I'm already

looking at non-NW options. Right now, Frontier and Sun Country both look good for reaching the West Coast to pick up ANA or JAL.

[myrna minx]

16. Wow-I hope you'll be able to find a decent alternative, Lydia.

Maybe it's the idealist in me, but maybe the strike will be over by then? I hope so. This is going to affect so many families. Good luck. Oh, a trip to Japan sounds so wonderful right now. :-)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. Well, this is for a meeting, and I won't be able to stay long, but

from my preliminary investigations, it looks as if I'll be able to cobble together a reasonable flight schedule without Northwest.

[katinmn]

17. Yep. I already passed up flying w/NWA 8/19-22

I won't go on any NW flights until they settle fairly.

[dpbrown]

19. They won't settle fairly

They learned from United that bankruptcy can be used to get out of maintaining pensions, since further lawlessness (deregulation) granted to the industry by the pirate administration is the rule of the day.

They are going to cut workers, and then cut pay, and if they can figure out how to declare bankruptcy, they are going to throw out the pensions, too.

DPB

[katinmn]

20. just thinking about all the bailouts the state has given them in the past

burns me up.

I'm sure Tim would continue that tradition if he could.

Are any other unions doing sympathy strikes yet?

[LissaM]

25. not yet..

but the FA's are getting disgruntled and are starting to feel the safety issues. ALPA (the pilots union) sucks on this issue, they urged the mechanics to take the pay cut b/c they did... So what? I stand with the mechanics and honk for them every day on my drive home from work.

[MNGremlin]

23. It's the first round...

An analysis I heard suggested that Northwest is headed for bankruptcy, maybe as soon as September, irregardless of what happens with AMFA (but they would make a convenient scapegoat).

If AMFA settles for cuts now they'll just get dinged again for more concessions in the bankruptcy reorganization.

If AMFA can hold out for awhile perhaps they'll only have to go through one round of salary/worker/benefit cuts.

[CatholicEdHead]

21. KARE-11 is now reporting of some vandelism claims

at MSP and DTW airports, presumably from disgruntled union employees.

I see this as union-bashing in the media.

Of course KSTP-5 is bashing NWA union employees with the golf swing.

http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S10037.html?cat=1

[Krupskaya]

22. I hate that golf-swing shit.

Because God knows NO ONE ELSE on ANY JOB, ANYWHERE, ever does ANYTHING not related to what they're being paid to do AT THAT MOMENT.

EVER.

Sheesh.

As far as vandalism claims -- convenient shit. But not unexpected.

[Love Bug]

24. Back in the day, my Grandfather lost his job from Ford

for attending a Union meeting. He'd haunt me if I crossed a picket line! Screw Northwest.

[Spike from MN]

26. I will never fly Northwest again.

I decided this before the strike when they first started jacking around the mechanics. A co-worker's husband was a mechanic with NW and he was laid off a few months ago. He had worked there for many years and it was his dream job. All he had ever wanted to do was be an airline mechanic and he loved his job. When NW started jacking around the mechanics, all of that changed. It's really sad to hear how this has impacted him. The stress of losing your job and the disillusionment that comes with getting screwed around by a company that you loved working for definitely takes its toll. At this point, both he and his wife absolutely hate Northwest and I stand with them. They will never get another dime from me.

[CatholicEdHead]

27. NWA's latest offer is even worst and an insult to the union

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=106724

"
Northwest Airlines and its mechanics gathered again for talks on Thursday, but with the airline demanding steeper cuts than the ones that prompted the strike, prospects for a deal were uncertain.

The airline said rising fuel prices have forced it to ask for even more labor savings.

"I hope they go into bankruptcy -- I've got nothing to lose," said Dave Kowalkowski, a mechanic who has worked for the airline for 26 years. "I'd rather deal with a bankruptcy judge."

.........

"They're negotiating again, just so they can go to a bankruptcy judge and say, 'We made them a final offer.' So they can save face."