NWA ready to use 1,000 replacement mechanics

08/02/2005

Liz Fedor,
Star Tribune
August 2, 2005

Northwest Airlines intends to use 1,000 replacement mechanics if its union mechanics strike the airline later this month, according to a contingency plan obtained by the Star Tribune.

The replacement mechanics would be deployed in the Twin Cities, Detroit and Memphis to do line maintenance—the daily work that is necessary to keep the fleet operating. The goal is to “operate at 100 percent of scheduled service” in the event that the mechanics union strikes, the late July memo said.

The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) and Northwest negotiators return to the bargaining table today, but both sides are in high gear for strike preparations. Northwest seeks to assure employees and the public that it will operate a full schedule without compromising safety.

“We are not cutting corners. This is business as usual,” Northwest’s memo said.

But Ted Ludwig, president of Bloomington-based AMFA Local 33, said that Northwest’s contingency plans are “a recipe for disaster.” He predicted that there would be large numbers of flight cancellations and delays if Northwest attempts to operate with replacement workers.

“Their schedule can’t be maintained,” Ludwig said.

Northwest’s memo does not specify the total number of licensed mechanics available to do maintenance work. But the 1,000 replacement mechanics are in one of three pools of workers that Northwest is prepared to use if management and the mechanics union fail to reach an agreement by the Aug. 19 strike deadline.

Third-party maintenance companies, including firms that already do work for the carrier, are expected to perform daily maintenance in the cities outside Northwest’s three domestic hubs.

A large number of Northwest salaried workers also are licensed mechanics, and they would be deployed to perform maintenance work.

Northwest officials said Monday that it was “unfortunate” that the Star Tribune had been given a copy of the strike operations plan.

“The document was developed expressly to inform our managers of the breadth and detail of our contingency plan,” a prepared statement from the airline said. “If we are unsuccessful in reaching a consensual agreement with AMFA, the plan will be implemented to ensure that Northwest continues to fly its full schedule.”

‘Sympathy actions’

In addition to hiring and training replacement mechanics in Tucson, Northwest also is preparing a corps of replacement flight attendants.

“Flight attendants are expected to cross picket lines and come to work,” the management memo said. The “PFAA contract does not permit sympathy actions,” the memo said, but replacement flight attendants will be available to substitute for “those [employees] who refuse to work.”

Peter Fiske, an official with the PFAA, said Monday: “Our contract neither prohibits nor allows us to honor another union’s picket line. However, under the [federal] Railway Labor Act, we are permitted to honor another union’s picket line.” At this stage, Fiske said, “We are just keeping our options open.”

In negotiations with AMFA, Northwest has said it wants to reduce the union’s 5,114-member workforce to 2,450 people and secure pay cuts of 25 to 26 percent.

In a recent interview, Northwest CEO Doug Steenland said he wanted to avoid a strike that would shut down the airline as well as a tentative agreement with the union that falls short of the $176 million in annual cutbacks the company wants from AMFA.

NWA’s ‘third choice’

The “third choice” for Northwest was to develop a contingency plan that would allow the airline to keep operating during a strike, he said.

“This is the result of 18 months’ worth of preparation,” Steenland said in a July interview. The chief executive characterized the strike contingency plans as “prudent and responsible.”

But Steve MacFarlane, assistant national director of AMFA, said it is “arrogant” and “egotistical” for Northwest management to conclude that the airline can operate without its veteran mechanics.

“It just really proves how disconnected they are from what we do,” MacFarlane said. “I’m afraid that our passengers and our co-workers are going to feel the brunt of this miscalculation.”

Experience stressed

In messages to Northwest employees, the media and passengers, Northwest has been stressing the experience level of replacement mechanics and those working at vendors used by Northwest.

“Eighty-four percent of our vendor technicians now in training have more than five years of major airline experience, and 63 percent have more than 10 years of such experience,” Steenland said in the July newsletter for employees.

But AMFA’s MacFarlane said that Steenland has erred by buying into a plan developed by Andy Roberts, Northwest’s executive vice president of operations, that Northwest can successfully operate by outsourcing much of its maintenance.

“The actual work that is being done in the hangars, on the flight lines, the things that it takes to get airplanes safely in the air—he doesn’t have a clue,” MacFarlane said.

AMFA members picketed outside Roberts’ home Monday.

“We will not compromise safety,” Northwest said in its July memo to company managers. “We want a voluntary settlement with AMFA, but it must be timely and meet their share of the overall labor restructuring. If this isn’t possible, we must be prepared.”

Already, Ludwig said, there have been maintenance challenges in keeping pace with the workload at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after job changes that followed July layoffs.

Ludwig said mechanics are not engaging in any type of work slowdown before a strike, noting that Northwest would take the union to court if there were any evidence of an effort by mechanics to create disruptions.