NWA tells attendants price of rejection
In a letter to flight attendants, Northwest says a contract rejection will mean loss of jobs, severance and merger protection.
Liz Fedor, Star Tribune
Last update: May 15, 2006 – 11:59 PM
If Northwest Airlines flight attendants reject the concessionary contract on which they are now voting, management will seek to impose terms that would include the outsourcing of 30 percent of the carrier's international flying.
That would translate into the loss of 800 jobs.
The warning was carried in a letter sent on Friday to all Northwest flight attendants. The president of the flight attendants' union responded Monday by calling the letter blatant intimidation.
Job preservation was the top priority of the Professional Flight Attendants Association (PFAA) when that union's negotiators bargained with Northwest earlier this year. The two sides reached agreement March 1 on a deal that includes base pay cuts of 21 percent and would save Northwest $195 million a year.
The company "does not have the luxury of returning to the bargaining table for Round 2," Northwest said in the letter from Suzanne Boda, vice president of inflight services.
"A perception has been publicly communicated that flight attendants are hopeful for a quick return to the bargaining table ... and an improved offer. Those hopes, if they exist, are misplaced," the letter continued.
Guy Meek, PFAA president, said in an interview Monday that Northwest has the right to release factual information about the tentative agreement. However, he added, "Their stiff-arm approach and their intimidation tactics are not the way to do it."
Meek said a union attorney is researching whether Northwest violated any federal labor laws by sending the letter.
Danny Campbell, an organizer for another union seeking to represent the flight attendants, said many of them view the Northwest letter as an "inflammatory threat." It may actually increase the number of flight attendants who vote against the contract, he said.
He is a "no" voter on the tentative agreement and wants the PFAA to be replaced by the Association of Flight Attendants.
Northwest is attempting to win $1.4 billion in annual labor cost savings. The pilots union ratified a concessionary deal in early May, three small unions previously agreed to cutbacks, and Northwest already has reduced the compensation for salaried employees.
Flight attendants will be voting through June 6 on their contract proposal, which also calls for fewer vacation days, longer work hours and some layoffs.
PFAA leaders fought hard at the bargaining table to retain flying for U.S.-based flight attendants. PFAA represents 9,300 attendants at Northwest, some of whom already are on furlough. Another 800 positions would be eliminated from PFAA if one-third of overseas flights were staffed by foreign attendants.
Northwest said that if the deal is rejected, it will ask the bankruptcy court to permit it to abrogate the current contract and allow it to impose its own terms.
Northwest and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) were in court Monday on a similar action. Some Northwest ground workers rejected a contract offer in March. Northwest has filed a motion to void the IAM contract, but both sides said Monday that they still prefer to reach a consensual deal.
In Friday's letter to attendants, Northwest also said it would eliminate the severance package in the tentative agreement that allows about 1,200 flight attendants to leave the company, receiving a payout of up to $27,000 each.
In addition, Northwest said it would start furloughing attendants in July, and reduce or eliminate measures designed to save attendant jobs in the event of a merger with another carrier.
The Northwest flight attendants are embroiled in an internal dispute. The independent PFAA was voted into office in 2003, replacing the Teamsters. Now, supporters of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) want to replace the PFAA, partly because the AFA, an AFL-CIO union, has represented many flight attendant groups at bankrupt carriers.
Flight attendants will begin voting in early June on whether they want the PFAA or AFA to represent them.
Liz Fedor • 612-673-7709
In a letter to flight attendants, Northwest says a contract rejection will mean loss of jobs, severance and merger protection.
Liz Fedor, Star Tribune
Last update: May 15, 2006 – 11:59 PM
If Northwest Airlines flight attendants reject the concessionary contract on which they are now voting, management will seek to impose terms that would include the outsourcing of 30 percent of the carrier's international flying.
That would translate into the loss of 800 jobs.
The warning was carried in a letter sent on Friday to all Northwest flight attendants. The president of the flight attendants' union responded Monday by calling the letter blatant intimidation.
Job preservation was the top priority of the Professional Flight Attendants Association (PFAA) when that union's negotiators bargained with Northwest earlier this year. The two sides reached agreement March 1 on a deal that includes base pay cuts of 21 percent and would save Northwest $195 million a year.
The company "does not have the luxury of returning to the bargaining table for Round 2," Northwest said in the letter from Suzanne Boda, vice president of inflight services.
"A perception has been publicly communicated that flight attendants are hopeful for a quick return to the bargaining table ... and an improved offer. Those hopes, if they exist, are misplaced," the letter continued.
Guy Meek, PFAA president, said in an interview Monday that Northwest has the right to release factual information about the tentative agreement. However, he added, "Their stiff-arm approach and their intimidation tactics are not the way to do it."
Meek said a union attorney is researching whether Northwest violated any federal labor laws by sending the letter.
Danny Campbell, an organizer for another union seeking to represent the flight attendants, said many of them view the Northwest letter as an "inflammatory threat." It may actually increase the number of flight attendants who vote against the contract, he said.
He is a "no" voter on the tentative agreement and wants the PFAA to be replaced by the Association of Flight Attendants.
Northwest is attempting to win $1.4 billion in annual labor cost savings. The pilots union ratified a concessionary deal in early May, three small unions previously agreed to cutbacks, and Northwest already has reduced the compensation for salaried employees.
Flight attendants will be voting through June 6 on their contract proposal, which also calls for fewer vacation days, longer work hours and some layoffs.
PFAA leaders fought hard at the bargaining table to retain flying for U.S.-based flight attendants. PFAA represents 9,300 attendants at Northwest, some of whom already are on furlough. Another 800 positions would be eliminated from PFAA if one-third of overseas flights were staffed by foreign attendants.
Northwest said that if the deal is rejected, it will ask the bankruptcy court to permit it to abrogate the current contract and allow it to impose its own terms.
Northwest and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) were in court Monday on a similar action. Some Northwest ground workers rejected a contract offer in March. Northwest has filed a motion to void the IAM contract, but both sides said Monday that they still prefer to reach a consensual deal.
In Friday's letter to attendants, Northwest also said it would eliminate the severance package in the tentative agreement that allows about 1,200 flight attendants to leave the company, receiving a payout of up to $27,000 each.
In addition, Northwest said it would start furloughing attendants in July, and reduce or eliminate measures designed to save attendant jobs in the event of a merger with another carrier.
The Northwest flight attendants are embroiled in an internal dispute. The independent PFAA was voted into office in 2003, replacing the Teamsters. Now, supporters of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) want to replace the PFAA, partly because the AFA, an AFL-CIO union, has represented many flight attendant groups at bankrupt carriers.
Flight attendants will begin voting in early June on whether they want the PFAA or AFA to represent them.
Liz Fedor • 612-673-7709
. That woman looked at me like I was crazy. 
