NWA mechanics get flight attendant support

08/09/2005

Joshua Freed,
Associated Press
August 10, 2005

Flight attendants at Northwest Airlines announced Tuesday that they are voting on a possible sympathy strike if mechanics walk off the job. But the union representing ground workers accused mechanics of harassment and intimidation and said they “will not be duped’’ into standing with them.

Mediated talks are set to resume Monday in Washington. Talks broke off last week after mechanics accused the airline of failing to move from its demand for $176 million in concessions. Mechanics can strike after 12:01 a.m. EDT on Aug. 20.

The strike vote by flight attendants began Tuesday and ends one minute before the strike deadline. The Professional Flight Attendants Association said it would only hold a sympathy strike if its members approve.

Still, the vote is a major victory for mechanics, who will have more leverage at the bargaining table if Northwest believes a strike could ground the airline. However, Northwest has pledged to keep flying, and has trained replacement mechanics and flight attendants.

Other unions at Northwest have been notably tepid in their support. Pilots have publicly called on the mechanics to take a pay cut. And the ground workers union lashed out at mechanics Tuesday, saying it would only honor a mechanics’ picket line if that’s best for ground workers — not mechanics.

The International Association of Machinists represents Northwest workers such as ticket agents and baggage handlers. They used to represent mechanics, too, but mechanics voted to leave the IAM in 1998 and join the more militant Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association.

AMFA mechanics have never honored an IAM picket line, said IAM General Vice President Robert Roach Jr. in a letter to AMFA National Director O.V. Delle-Femine on Tuesday. Now AMFA is turning to the IAM for help — “an organization that you have criticized and tried to belittle for more than 40 years,’’ the letter said.

“IAM members will not be duped into standing with the AMFA,’’ the letter said.

The letter said the IAM is investigating complaints that include “attacks on our female members in Building B in Minneapolis, property damage, and general harassment in the workplace such as the incidents that have happened in Detroit.’’ The letter didn’t elaborate.

He also accused AMFA of trying to protect mechanic pay by proposing larger pay cuts for ground workers. Mechanic’s wages can be more than double that of other ground workers.

“When they left, they called our ramp folks ‘baggage smashers, knuckle draggers.’ ... Now they want us to forget all of that,’’ said IAM District 143 President Bobby De Pace.

AMFA Assistant National Director Steve MacFarlane said De Pace is just mad that mechanics left his union.

“All of their members have gotten over it. The problem is that Bobby De Pace and the others at the national have not gotten over it,’’ MacFarlane said.

Mechanics are banking on being able to shut the airline down, with or without help from the other unions, MacFarlane said. Even if leaders at the other unions don’t declare a sympathy strike, MacFarlane said many of their rank-and-file will refuse to work.

“Our expectation is that no good union man would ever cross another person’s picket line,’’ he said.

Northwest, the nation’s fourth-largest airline, is seeking $1.1 billion in overall wage concessions from its workers, and has warned that it could seek bankruptcy if it doesn’t get them.

About 250 mechanics and supporters from other unions rallied at the state capitol on Tuesday. But PFAA was the only other Northwest union there.

It’s not clear whether a sympathy strike by flight attendants would be legal. The flight attendants’ union said it believes its contract does not address the issue and that federal labor law permits a sympathy strike. Northwest disagreed.

“The PFAA agreement does not permit Northwest Airlines flight attendants to engage in a sympathy strike,’’ the company said in a prepared statement. “Northwest Airlines expects its flight attendants to report for duty, as scheduled, regardless of the outcome of the company’s negotiations with AMFA.’’

PFAA warned flight attendants that Northwest can replace them if they support the mechanics’ strike.

“PFAA believes NWA management’s primary goal is to divide, conquer and bust all of the Unions on the property. Now is the time for labor to stand together,’’ it said in a message on its Web site.

The Northwest pilots strike in 1998 grounded the airline for 20 days, so most workers didn’t have to decide whether to cross a picket line. Pilots asked mechanics to keep working so the planes would be ready to fly when the strike ended, MacFarlane said.

The animosity between AMFA and other ground workers is no surprise, considering that AMFA snatched the mechanics away from the IAM, said John Budd, a labor relations professor at the University of Minnesota who has followed Northwest’s labor trials.

“Within the labor movement, raiding another union is one of the most treasonous things you can do,’’ he said. “The wounds run deep. And I think some of that is bubbling over now.’’

Ted Ludwig, president of the AMFA unit that represents Northwest mechanics in Minneapolis, said the lack of solidarity isn’t AMFA’s fault.

“We’ve reached out many times to the other unions,’’ he said. “Building solidarity, it takes two to have solidarity.’’