AFA and NWA Reach Labor Deal

[JAMAKE1]

Northwest in deal with flight attendants

By JOSHUA FREED, AP Business Writer 50 minutes ago

MINNEAPOLIS - Northwest Airlines Corp. reached a tentative agreement with flight attendants on Monday, a union official said. The news came on the same day Northwest could have imposed a new contract that had drawn strike threats.


Sean Fivecoat, the secretary-treasurer for the Northwest branch of the Association of Flight Attendants, said negotiators made the agreement around 9:20 a.m. EDT after bargaining all night. He said the deal includes a provision that it come to a vote by the rank-and-file quickly. He declined to discuss any details of the agreement.

Northwest had no immediate comment, spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said.

The deal comes on the day set by a bankruptcy judge for Northwest to be free to impose a contract that 80 percent of flight attendants had rejected last month. The union had threatened to strike if that happened, putting the financially precarious airline in even more danger.

"It was down to the wire, and we made some improvements, and we just hope they're good enough," Fivecoat said.

Northwest filed for bankruptcy protection in September, and negotiated in earnest with all its unions as it tried to save $1.4 billion a year in labor expenses.

That target included $195 million in savings from flight attendants, through wage cuts and work rule changes. Flight attendants were the last union at Northwest without a new contract.

Northwest got the dollar savings it was looking for from all its other unions, and labor experts had predicted Northwest would not back down on its demand from flight attendants, either.

The agreement was made with a union that has only been on the property since July 6, when flight attendants dropped their old union and switched to the AFA.

Northwest has new contracts in place with all its other unions, although the pacts with pilots and ramp workers and ticket agents are on hold until the new flight attendant contract takes effect.

 

[LGA Fleet Service]

And so it came to pass that every labor group at every airline grabbed their ankles...

 

[JAMAKE1]

Strategically, it was a very smart move on the part of AFA to seize the opportunity to represent NWA flight attendants. Typically when a carrier's flight attendants or other work groups vote for union representation, it can often take several years to negotiate a first agreement as elections take significant amounts of time to nominate council representatives and committee chairpersons. Additionally, it takes time to schedule prelimary negotiations and opening talks with airline managements. Presuming that this improved tentative is successfully ratified, the Association of Flight Attendants will have approximately 9,300 new dues-paying members in record time. Congratulations to NWA-AFA for reaching an agreement. Hopefully, the membership's key issues and concerns were adequately addressed in this new tentative.

 

[JetClipper]

Strategically, it was a very smart move on the part of AFA to seize the opportunity to represent NWA flight attendants. Typically when a carrier's flight attendants or other work groups vote for union representation, it can often take several years to negotiate a first agreement as elections take significant amounts of time to nominate council representatives and committee chairpersons. Additionally, it takes time to schedule prelimary negotions and opening talks with airline managements. Presuming that this improved tentative is successfully ratified, the Association of Flight Attendants will have approximately 9,300 new dues-paying members in record time. Congratulations to NWA-AFA for reaching an agreement. Hopefully, the membership's key issues and concerns were adequately addressed in this new tentative.

I would agree. This was an excellent strategic move on the part of AFA; they look like heroes for coming in at the eleventh hour and reaching an agreement. I just hope the rank-and-file can live with it, though.

 

[JAMAKE1]

I hope so too. Concessionary agreements aren't exactly something to celebrate, but it is preferable over the alternative: Allowing NWA management to impose their own contract terms with a bankruptcy judge's blessing...

 

[finman]

I hope so too. Concessionary agreements aren't exactly something to celebrate, but it is preferable over the alternative: Allowing NWA management to impose their own contract terms with a bankruptcy judge's blessing...

Just out of curiosity, what is the bare minimum amount of time it takes to conduct a ratification vote? It seems to me like it shouldn't take more than a week or two for everybody to have an opportunity to vote. Considering the previous vote was not done until a good 6 weeks after the TA was announced, maybe I'm missing something that logistically prohibits an expedient vote process.

 

[JAMAKE1]

Just out of curiosity, what is the bare minimum amount of time it takes to conduct a ratification vote? It seems to me like it shouldn't take more than a week or two for everybody to have an opportunity to vote. Considering the previous vote was not done until a good 6 weeks after the TA was announced, maybe I'm missing something that logistically prohibits an expedient vote process.

You pose a good question, which I do not know the answer to. I can tell you that AFA does have the infrastructure in place to make the balloting process as expeditious as possible. My sense is that this contract will get ratified, since there will be little other alternatives. Additionally, I believe that a major factor in the 80% rejection of the first TA was a vote of no confidence in the PFAA and its leadership. My guess is that the process will be concluded within 2-3 weeks.

 

[IMisstheAladdinTrays]

I just hope its a deal the F/A's can not only live with...but afford to live on!

 

[Kev3188]

Just out of curiosity, what is the bare minimum amount of time it takes to conduct a ratification vote? It seems to me like it shouldn't take more than a week or two for everybody to have an opportunity to vote. Considering the previous vote was not done until a good 6 weeks after the TA was announced, maybe I'm missing something that logistically prohibits an expedient vote process.

Assuming all voting is done online or over the phone, the longest part of the process would likely be mailing out copies of the T/A to people, and setting up roadshows in the domicile cities....

 

[PurduePete]

And so it came to pass that every labor group at every airline grabbed their ankles...

You're forgetting that the mechanics and related at NW are currently on STRIKE - a strike that is coming up on 11 months in duration. Surely you didn't mean that we "assumed the position" too?

 

[LGA Fleet Service]

You're forgetting that the mechanics and related at NW are currently on STRIKE - a strike that is coming up on 11 months in duration. Surely you didn't mean that we "assumed the position" too?

Not at all, your stand is the only act of defiance by any labor group at any airline.My apologies for the oversight.

 

[finman]

Assuming all voting is done online or over the phone, the longest part of the process would likely be mailing out copies of the T/A to people, and setting up roadshows in the domicile cities....

That leads to another question. Why can't the FA's just read the T/A online on the AFA website, or some other secure website? In addition, is the roadshow done in an effort to "sell" the TA, or is it strictly informational. If it's the latter, can't the FA's just read the TA and inform themselves for the vote.

It just seems like a lot of hand holding for a process that should take no longer than it takes for every FA to reach home base with a few days to read the TA and make a choice. That would amount to roughly two weeks I would assume.

 

[Spock]

I would agree. This was an excellent strategic move on the part of AFA; they look like heroes for coming in at the eleventh hour and reaching an agreement. I just hope the rank-and-file can live with it, though.

Wooaaa! Just a little too early calling these "heroes" the new Messiah. No matter how good you dress up a pig, it's still a pig. Wait for the comparison between what was rejected and what snake oil that was rubbed on this pig. And will the membership decide, or does the AFA have to do the "dog & pony" show to sell this? If push comes to shove, we'll see what their made of. This was the look in the hallway outside of In-Flight on the 1st TA.

 

[Kev3188]

That leads to another question. Why can't the FA's just read the T/A online on the AFA website, or some other secure website? In addition, is the roadshow done in an effort to "sell" the TA, or is it strictly informational. If it's the latter, can't the FA's just read the TA and inform themselves for the vote.

It's entirely possible that the AFA will do all of this online (that would make sense to me; I wish the IAM did it this way); I honestly don't know.

Traditionally, a copy is mailed to all members of an affected union, and the roadshows are usually more of a Q and A than anything else.

 

[robbedagain]

finman, it would be easier for everyoen to do it on line but there are numerous folks that dont have a computer or access to one. that could also help to explian the road shows.

As for voting, the ones without a comp can just phone it in.