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Northwest, Attendants Work It Out -- Pilots Union Flying Solo in Bid to Take on Troubled Airline in Battle Over Contract

Posted on: Friday, 3 March 2006, 09:00 CST

By Jane Roberts robertsj@commercialappealcom

Northwest Airlines and its flight attendants came to a truce Wednesday, hours before a court-imposed deadline, leaving the pilots on their own in the fight.

Shortly before 11 a.m., the Professional Flight Attendants Association and Northwest ironed out a deal that saves the carrier $195 million a year in labor costs.

"While this has been an especially difficult period for our airline, we would like to ensure our customers that our flight attendants remain up to our current challenges," said PFAA president Guy Meek.

The terms will not be shared until the agreement is ratified by a majority of PFAA's 9,700 members.

Northwest, which reported Tuesday that it lost $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter, said it was "pleased to have reached an agreement."

It spent the rest of the day pushing on deadline for an agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association, the only labor group among its seven still without at least a tentative agreement.

Quietly, ALPA said it expected the flight attendants to settle, adding that the decision would have no bearing on its strategy.

Experts, including pilots for other companies, agreed.

"They are going to do their own thing," said Terry Trippler at Cheapseats.com.

While it's true that airlines also can't fly without flight attendants, they are easier to replace than pilots who must be licensed for every kind of aircraft they fly.

"Pilots get paid the most; they have the most influence and the strongest union," Trippler said.

In this case, University of Minnesota labor professor John Budd says there's little meaning in who settled first.

"The significance of the settlement is that it indicates Northwest is willing to back off of its most draconian demands and reach negotiated settlements."

Northwest raised hackles with the public in January when flight attendants broadcast the company's wish to outsource senior flight attendant jobs on international routes to foreign workers.

"Clearly, when our flight attendants, customers and more than 120 members of Congress expressed dismay over the outsourcing scheme, Northwest management listened," said PFAA contract administrator Bob Krabbe. "There are some boundaries that should never be crossed, and obviously this was one of them."

Northwest has employed foreign flight attendants on its routes in southeast Asia for years.

The proposal would have greatly increased the numbers, displacing thousands of U.S. jobs, PFAA said.

The flight attendants took the case to Washington in a lobbying effort that paid off, the union said.

Late last week, the pilots and the company were $100 million apart. Early this week, the figure narrowed to $40 million.

For months, Northwest has said it needs to trim $1.4 billion from its labor costs. The flight attendants' share was $195 million. The pilots' share is $358 million.

In November, the flight attendants took a temporary 20 percent cut; the pilots have taken 39 percent in temporary cuts since late 2004.

The best thing Northwest could do now, Trippler said, "is let the judge void the contract.

"They should say, 'void all you want, we're going to keep talking with our pilots' union,'" Trippler said. "That would send the message that Northwest really does want to deal with the union. It would be a fantastic PR move."

-Jane Roberts: 529-2512

Source: Commercial Appeal, The

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