SAN FRANCISCO – Northwest Airlines flights were in the air Sunday, the second day of a strike by more than 4,400 mechanics and aircraft cleaners who rejected labor cost cuts demanded by the nation’s fourth-largest airline.
In the wake of the strike by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, Northwest said planes are taking off on schedule, and passengers can book flights without being concerned that the strike will disrupt future plans.
The union claims the airline anticipated a strike. “The fact that Northwest began making strike preparations 18 months ago, a full year before our negotiation process started, proves that the talks were a farce,” said O.V. Delle-Femine, national director of AMFA.
The walkout forces Northwest to use more than 1,000 contract and maintenance workers to keep its planes flying during the busy summer-travel season.
It is the first major strike since the airline industry began a painful restructuring in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, part of a struggle to make the oldest, most storied carriers in the business competitive with low-cost rivals that can make money when ticket prices are low and fuel prices are high. Past brinkmanship – at American Airlines in 2003, for example – has taken unions and management all the way to the precipice of a strike, but not until now have both sides gone over the edge.
Airline expert Terry Trippler of Cheapseats.com said passengers should feel comfortable about buying airline tickets on Northwest because there haven’t been any disruptions.
Trippler said he’s been watching from his apartment as Northwest planes take off every few minutes from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, a signal to him that things are running as scheduled.
“Monday will be the true test. But so far, the two-year preparation and planning that Northwest Airlines went through seems to be paying off,” he said.
Saturday and Sunday were each a bit less busy than today is expected to be, according to a Northwest spokesman. Northwest was scheduled to fly 1,215 flights on Saturday and 1,381 on Sunday. Monday’s schedule calls for 1,473 flights. That is part of a fall schedule, traditionally a less busy time of year for the industry.
The union had threatened to go on strike if management didn’t back off its demands by the time a 30-day cooling-off period expired at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
“People are really angry,” said Richard Turk, communications officer for the AMFA Local 9, based in San Bruno, Calif. “We want the airline to thrive. We just don’t want them doing it off our back. At some point, they are going to have to charge what it costs to do business.”
Northwest wants to save more than $1.1 billion a year in labor costs and AMFA members are expected to shoulder $176 million of that amount.
The union says its latest offer would have achieved that milestone, according a statement posted on its Web site.
AMFA was opposing the airline’s position, saying it would result in more than half of its members losing their jobs. In its counter offer, the union proposed a plan that would eliminate 1,500 unionized positions.
To handle work by striking maintenance technicians, cleaners and custodians, the airline has prepared a force of temporary contract technicians. It has also made arrangements with outside vendors as well as management to keep operations running.
Some of those workers are former mechanics for U.S. carriers that have been laid off, Northwest said.
For the union, the stakes are high. Other than the work force at United Airlines, Northwest’s AMFA members are its second-biggest group of organized workers.
For Northwest, surging jet-fuel prices represent an immediate threat.
In 2004, Northwest spent $2.2 billion on aircraft fuel and taxes, up 42 percent from 2003. In the first half of this year alone, Northwest already has spent $1.42 billion, up almost 50 percent over the first six months of 2004.
The burdens surrounding high fuel prices have taken a toll on Northwest shares so far this year.
While jet-fuel prices remain in the headlines, Northwest also faces $3.8 billion in underfunded pension expenses. To help remedy that, the company has been pushing for legislative changes to help spread out that burden over more time.
(c) 2005, MarketWatch.com Inc.
Visit MarketWatch on the Web at http://www.marketwatch.com
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Comments are no longer available on this story