Presidential Emergency Board releases opening statements
Tony Kennedy / Star Tribune
Northwest Airlines mechanics are not just negotiating a contract, they are crusading to save the aviation industry from "reckless neglect of its own human infrastructure."
That is the argument the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) is making this week before a Presidential Emergency Board in Philadelphia.
Hearings that began Monday conclude today. On April 10 or 11, the board of professional arbitrators will issue a nonbinding report recommending settlement terms for 10,000 Northwest mechanics, cleaners and custodians.
Unless there is an agreement or Congress intervenes, AMFA will be free to strike May 10.
According to a transcript of Monday's opening statement before the emergency board, AMFA lawyer Lee Seham said the union needs an equitable recommendation to prevent a strike at Northwest and to revive waning interest in what has become an unrewarding occupation.
Seham talked of mechanic shortages and said the industry already is compromising safety by "filling the gap" with fatigued and inexperienced technicians and unlicensed workers. He said safety-sensitive work is being deferred because mechanics are in short supply -- an assertion flatly rejected by Northwest.
"You can sweep the dust under the rug for a while, but at some point it's not a matter of a dust ball here and a dust ball there," Seham told the emergency board. "It's a matter of a corpse, and you can't sweep that under the rug."
He said a lot of veteran airplane mechanics already have one foot out the door of their "rotting" craft, attracted by more lucrative jobs where they can easily transfer their skills. He warned of a possible "massive abandonment of this profession." He also repeatedly said Northwest mechanics will strike if the company doesn't give them what they deserve.
"Their feeling is now is the time and there will not be a second chance; now is the time to save the craft," Seham told the emergency board.
'Emotional Kool-Aid'
According to the hearing transcript, Northwest lawyer Jack Gallagher said AMFA's entire position is based on a flawed premise that mechanics are increasingly scarce. He accused the union of converting self-sympathy among mechanics to cultish self-righteousness and a feeling of entitlement.
"Mr. Seham tells you that the mechanics are emotional; that they want to strike," Gallagher said. "If that is true, it is because AMFA has poured the emotional Kool-Aid that leads them to that conclusion."
Gallagher said Northwest has continually reached out for a settlement with proposals not only fair, but generous. He said AMFA's financial proposals would "kill the goose" and have no economic basis.
"AMFA has presented you with multiple ways to get more money, to pyramid increases on top of increases and ratchet up the ante with no economic justification ... other than to say 'we want it; we think we have the muscle and we're going to get it,'" Gallagher said.
The company lawyer also said AMFA appears to be negotiating to make itself look attractive to mechanics at other major airlines, where AMFA is trying to win bargaining rights from other unions. He said AMFA's position is "miles and miles ahead of anyone else in the industry."
Sticking points remain
The main sticking points in the 4½-year-old dispute are wages, back pay and pension. Gallagher said Northwest's contract proposal would increase its costs by 33 percent, or $195 million, over the next five years. AMFA's proposal would increase costs every year by $467 million, he said.
"We think you have to go no further than these cost figures to appreciate the problem we face," Gallagher said.
On the issue of the industry's supply of mechanics, Northwest said it has no problem hiring mechanics. In addition, the voluntary attrition rate of Northwest mechanics is less than one-tenth of one percent, Gallagher said.
He said the company has 1,300 qualified mechanic applicants in a database, including 92 who already are cleared for hiring to fill the next vacancies. He said enrollments at aviation schools declined earlier in the decade because the industry wasn't hiring mechanics, and he promised to present the emergency board with government data showing that aviation mechanics at Northwest and elsewhere have kept up in relative terms with pilots and other airline groups.
He said AMFA's contract proposal at Northwest offered the lowest wage increases at the entry level. "If they were really concerned about a shortage or about a hiring issue, they might have done otherwise," Gallagher said.
Proceedings end today
Before transcripts were released Wednesday by agreement of the parties, the emergency board proceedings in Philadelphia were under a news blackout. Helen Witt, chairwoman of the three-person emergency board, said Wednesday that the board itself will remain silent until issuing its report to the White House.
At the start of Monday's hearing, she said, "I want to welcome you to the City of Brotherly Love. This is where problems can be solved, and we hope to be instrumental in helping to bring you folks an end to your labor dispute."
But as of early Wednesday evening, there was no sign of the two sides coming together..
AMFA National Director O.V. Delle-Femine declined to comment Wednesday on the proceedings, which end today with rebuttals from both sides.
Bob Brodin, Northwest's chief labor negotiator, said, "We're confident that our contract proposal to AMFA ... is fair and equitable and that we demonstrated it [before the emergency board] with solid facts and supporting evidence."
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