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City Flights Go Despite Northwest Strike

Posted on: Monday, 22 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

Aug. 20--It was business as usual Saturday at the Northwest Airlines ticket counter of the Fort Wayne International Airport, despite the strike of the airline's mechanics, an act of protest many had been expecting.

Departing and arriving flights were running on schedule. No Northwest mechanics are employed here. Northwest Airlink, the regional carrier that serves Fort Wayne, uses "feeder" lines Mesaba and Pinnacle to shuttle passengers from here to Detroit, the only Northwest route available out of Fort Wayne.

Before the strike broke, David Young, vice president of Air Service Development and Marketing at the Fort Wayne International Airport, said he spoke with Northwest representatives and was assured the conflict between the airline and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) would not impact business.

"(Northwest) is anticipating no problems in Fort Wayne," he said.

However, Young did advise those who are traveling on Northwest either to call ahead or access the Fort Wayne airport's Web site at www.fwairport.com to check on a particular flight.

"If there is a situation, the phone lines will be jammed," he said.

On Friday, Mark Stephens, AMFA area representative in Indianapolis, said Northwest mechanics are getting "tremendous support" from other unions in Detroit. Indianapolis AMFA membership consists of 31 mechanics and nine cleaners. Before the strike, Stephens predicted Northwest would struggle to get planes off the ground, but so far, this hasn't happened.

Northwest Airlines has brought replacement workers on the job to keep flights operational. The nation's fourth largest carrier has pledged to keep its planes in the air, saying it has been preparing for the strike for more than a year and a half. It said it has lined up about 1,900 replacement workers, vendor employees and managers to begin filling shifts Saturday.

The airline also shifted to its scaled-back fall flying schedule Saturday, earlier than usual.

After months of talks broke off in Washington, D.C., just before midnight Friday, union spokesman Jim Young said the mechanics would rather see the airline go into bankruptcy than agree to Northwest's terms. The AMFA represents about 11 percent of Northwest's 40,000 workers.

It's the first major airline strike since Northwest pilots grounded the airline for 20 days in 1998. AMFA has struck only four times in its history, most recently in 1980.

In May, AMFA mechanics at bankrupt United Airlines threatened to strike if a judge imposed pay cuts. Instead, mechanics approved a contract that included a 3.9 percent pay cut and fewer benefits.

But the mechanics are striking alone. Pilots, flight attendants and other ground workers all said they would keep working. A federal judge also barred mechanics at Mesaba Airlines from conducting a sympathy strike.

Northwest has said it needs $1.1 billion in labor savings from all its workers. Only pilots have agreed, accepting a 15 percent pay cut worth $300 million when combined with cuts for salaried employees.

The airline had sought a 25 percent pay cut for mechanics, as well as 2,000 more layoffs -- almost halving a workforce that is already half the size it was in 2001. Total savings under the plan would have been $176 million.

The News-Sentinel contributed to this report.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.

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NWAC, MAIR, PNCL,

Source: The News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Ind.)

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