North West Strike

[Diablo]

There was an interesting little article in the Financial Times today about Bush passing a ruleing that won't allow North West to strike until the contract negotiations have gone to mediation. It also mentioned United flight attendants and a few other groups across U.S. carriers.

My question to you guys, is, does this mean a settlement in you're favour is close, (I know from Red Tails posts that this has been a hell of a long dispute). Also has the U.S. government now realised how important this industry is and will this raise the profile of the down trodden masses worldwide ???

You're thoughts........

[redtail]

Obviously this is redtail bait. Ok, here I go.

Our negotiations have been government mediated for four and a half years. The mediation board finally declared an impasse last month and put us on a thirty day cooling off period, after which both sides would be allowed to go to self-help, either a strike or lock-out. The thirty day cooling off period is the time when actual negotiations take place, because there is finally a deadline to contribute a sense of urgency to the whole game. Bush’s announcement of invoking a Presidential Emergency Board takes away any pressure from the company to settle a contract and pushes back a possible strike date to May 12th. On that day, if we go on strike, Congress can impose the recommendations of the PEB on us.

Bush’s announcement weakens the union’s position. Our group is extremely bitter and militant of the company breaking its promises to us. We helped bail the company out from their misguided LBO by taking pay cuts, and have watched our standard of living erode over the years as inflation has overtaken our wages. Now that the company is making record profits and there is a shortage of aircraft mechanics, we would like our due.

The government has weakened our position, and we are being treated as serfs.

Try www.startribune.com (http://www.startribune.com) search facility to find background on this dispute, as well as www.amfa33.org (http://www.amfa33.org) .

[Diablo]

Yes I was aiming it in your direction, because we all know who you work for.

This whole topic is very fragmented. Another post (UK based) said that if B.A. went out they have the next layer of management that could keep the airline going for weeks by defering and no fault found entries. This would obvoiusly cost the strikers a lot of money before it began to hurt the company.

Does this apply to A & P operations and in particular yours. Hope this turns out well for you, because we are all some what dependant on the outcome.

[redtail]

Must have been my attitude giving me away. Like we say, peace in the Middle East, peace in Northern Ireland, reunite the Koreas and Chinas, peace at Northwest Airlines, probably in that order. It is hard to walk away from a fight that you believe in and that has affected your livelyhood.

“keep the airline going for weeks by defering and no fault found entries.” So pencil whipping by management is acceptable if it keeps the airplanes flying during a strike? Charming concept. I believe my co-workers from Eastern saw what happens to managers that are caught doing that. Hopefully events at Alaska Airlines will give people pause before putting false ink to paper.

Our line managers are required to have A&P certificates, so theoretically they could fill in for us, but a closer look reveals a few facts that get in the way of a good story, as far as having management keeping the operation going during a strike.

We average around 30 mechanics and R&Es (electrical, avionics) per manager. Management has had very little actual floor experience since we went to “electric” airplanes. We also fly a fossilized fleet that needs a lot of love and care. We borrow a lot of parts from other airlines, of which most are unionized. We run a slim operation as far as staffing. The pilots are sympathetic and have contract language that allows them to honor our picket lines, if they decide to. The pilots also have a safety committee to assure the airplanes are being maintained properly. Outside vendors have dropped us as customers due to our tendency to “nickel and dime” them on contracts while other operators will pay more for their airplanes to be maintained. There is a shortage of aircraft mechanics in the US. The shareholders are getting upset.

My conclusion is that the airline would not be able to operate very long during a strike, but we still would be out for about two or three weeks, which is hard to make up for.

Our view of what has transpired is that in our situation, labor had the upper hand on management, which I guess the rules do not allow, hence the PEB to keep us from bending the company over the table and achieving pay rates that allow our wages to catch up to and pass inflation from over the last fifteen years. We would also like to punish the company for their stalling while we were kept at a lower pay rate. The company had four and a half years of discount labor costs at our expense. We are the bad boys of both the US airline industry and the airline unions, so outside forces have an interest in our failing to achieve our goals.

Keep in mind that we are craftsmen, we like to give our work the personal touch. If we have to kill the company to stand up for our principles, so be it. We’ll just roll our tool boxes to the next company and continue to fight anyone that tries to push us around. Our tools work well on cars, motorcycles, boats and airplanes, so what have we got to lose? We have drawn our line.

[Diablo]

You seem in a better situation than a lot of firms over here, as we have more managers than workers it seems.

Hopefully someone will see sense and give you a descent days pay for a days work. But if not I hope it will serve to highlight what an important job we do.

All the best and don't let the b#@*&%£s grind you down.

[WenWe]

Redtail - the post on another thread re striking was mine, & was based on personal experience of a 2 week strike at Big Airways in '89.
At the time BA had plenty of licenced 'mangement' Engineers (Foremen/superintendents/tech services etc) who came out of the woodwork & kept the operation going.
Since then even more Licenced Engineers have been put on 'management' contracts & taken off the tools as it were - so the situation would be even more in the co.s favour now.
I didn't say (or mean to say) that defering & NFF'ing defects was acceptable, just that it happened. Anyhow defering iaw the MEL, & 10% variations to checks are all legal & above board(ish).
We were out for just over 2 weeks, it was a complete waste of time & hurt some guys badly financialy. The intent was never there to strike, but the company engineered the situation from an unofficial overtime ban (they suspended 2 guys who refused to work overtime - hence all out in support of them). It suited them down to the ground to have us out on strike.
There was next to no support from any other area within the airline, you appear to be in an enviable position as far as this goes.
If you read some of the other threads about Big Airways there seems to be a lot of discontent, but no shouts for a walk out. Wonder why?
I'm happy tho' - 'cos I walked out years ago. Best thing I did!
Best of luck in your struggle.

[redtail]

I would prefer not to strike, but it should be an option. We had a very strong position until the President opened his mouth prematurely, instead of waiting until 11:59 on Sunday night to announce a PEB. If the Presidential Emergency Board is slightly nuetral, we should still do well. If not, we may be looking at France for guidance on labor protests, if we can find enough people with backbones.

It probably does not help that we have former Eastern Airlines executives and managers facing former Eastern Airlines mechanics.

Still, we would like our profession to regain its previous glory and prestige.

[Diablo]

The French do it right. Main wheels filled with burning rags rolling down the runway at CDG. Kind of focuses the mind doesn't it !!!

[ottiss]

keep up the fight redtail.

[redtail]

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."

http://webserv5.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisSlug=PEB22&date=22-Mar-2001&word=airline&word=airlines

[Blacksheep]

WenWe's description of the BA '89 dispute is exactly the same as the '77 strike when BA kept going for three weeks on management sign-offs. The strike broke, just as management anticipated, when the employees monthly "Mortgage Payment Day" came around. When we got back to work we got the lost money back on the overtime needed to clear the deferral backlogs, but the strike was a lost cause and we never did get the pay deal we wanted.

The fact is that a strike is useless unless the employees can keep on paying their bills for longer than the company. The airline can keep flying for a surprising amount of time using deferrals and management sign-offs. The '77 strike also illustrates what can happen to a union organiser who tries to stir up public fears on safety. He risks expensive legal action and loss of job. Much better to keep talking, and certainly more likely to achieve better wages and conditions.

**********************************
Through difficulties to the cinema

[redtail]

Still, it would be nice to have the option/threat of going on strike. We really had some strong cards in our hand until the government stepped in and explained that we weren't allowed to thrash the executives.

Maybe congress will remember who gets them in and out of Washington.

[redtail]

From the AMFA Local 33 website

April 9, 2001 - Tentative Agreement is reached

This is Steve MacFarlane, president of AMFA Local 33. Today is Monday, April 9th at 12:30 AM CDT.

It gives me great pleasure to report that NWA and AMFA have reached a tentative agreement. Details of the agreement will be made available to the membership over the next few days. There will be no discussion of details with the media until our members have been fully informed. The T/A’d package in its entirety will be printed and provided to each AMFA member. You will have two weeks to review the package prior to a ratification vote.

Thank you for your extreme patience and high level of professionalism throughout this seemingly endless ordeal.

This line will be updated as events unfold.

[WenWe]

Hope U get wot yer lookin for Redtail.
Best of luck.

[gas path]

I've been following this thread with interest, I got caught up in the B.A. strikes of '77 and '89 The management 'pencil whipping' as Redtail calls it. The pilot community didn't help either bending over backwards to break the strike, aircraft after aircraft arriving 'NIL DEFECTS' (strange that!) and anything of any significance jotted down on a piece of paper and handed to the ongoing crew. I think one of the results of this was the Trident wing cracks bought on by tankering fuel.
I'm not so sure management would find it quite so easy now though, the tier above the L.A.E. have all had their authorisations taken away (passivated) and would now need retraining due to the length of time 'off the tools'. Ask someone who has tried to get a passivated authorisation back.

[redtail]

Published Tuesday, April 10, 2001

NWA sweetened the pot to get deal with mechanics
Tony Kennedy / Star Tribune

Union officials on Monday confidently put forth the financial terms of a tentative contract for mechanics at Northwest Airlines, a group that hasn't been shy about trashing deals it doesn't like.

With one major exception -- back pay -- the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) won improvements to a previous company offer that many industry observers had viewed as uncommonly generous for Northwest. That March 11 offer was in the form of an off-the-record "supposal."

The supposal, which is not an official table position, was at risk of never again seeing the light of day.

"In nearly every aspect, we did better than the supposal," said Jim Atkinson, a spokesman for AMFA Local 33 in Bloomington.

To the rank and file

With a proposed four-year contract now in hand after 4½ years of negotiations, it will be up to the rank and file to accept or reject it. In June 1998, Northwest mechanics overwhelmingly defeated a previous contract proposal, then fired the union that negotiated the deal. At one memorable forum leading up to the rejection, a union negotiator was pelted with eggs.

AMFA said the ratification process for the latest agreement is expected to take three to four weeks, and newly appointed Northwest Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said he hopes it goes smoothly.

"The agreement was long overdue," Anderson said Monday at a news conference.

Appointed CEO in February, Anderson said a speedy final agreement with AMFA will make for a successful launch of his administration. His stated mission is to end labor discord and strengthen customer service.

"It's a very important event," Anderson said. "We run a very good airline, but you haven't seen anything yet."

The proposed deal would provide an initial 27.6 percent pay increase, to an industry-leading $33.50 an hour, for an average veteran mechanic working second shift. An average technician would receive a lump sum "retro" bonus of $10,000, in lieu of the 100 percent back pay that AMFA demanded. And the pension rate, currently at $40, would soar to $85. That rate, multiplied by a worker's years of service, equals the retiree's monthly pension benefit.

As is AMFA's tradition, union leaders won't endorse the tentative agreement. But AMFA Local 33 President Steve MacFarlane said union moderates were describing the deal Monday as a clear success. He said hardliners were less enthusiastic, but supportive.

"Our hardliners are characterizing it as both sides were harmed equally," he said.

AMFA National Director O.V. Delle-Femine did not return phone calls Monday from the Star Tribune, but he told Minnesota Public Radio that "both sides should be congratulated."

"It's amazing," Delle-Femine said. "That's why you have negotiations. You can go for months at a time and all of a sudden it just falls into place."

Oberstar steps in

The tentative accord was reached after Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., warned union leaders last week that failure to settle likely would lead Congress to impose a settlement -- a possibility considered remote in past years. With a May 10 strike deadline looming, a Presidential Emergency Board was due this week to recommend settlement terms that Congress could impose to stop a strike.

"I think it would have come to that," said Oberstar, who is the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Oberstar said he also urged Northwest last week to "make a good faith, vigorous last-ditch effort."

The existence of the emergency board, appointed a month ago by President Bush to investigate the contract dispute, added pressure to both sides.

It was only the second such board created in airline labor disputes since the 1960s. In the other instance, President Clinton created a PEB in 1997 to stop a strike by American Airlines pilots, and members of the board intervened in the negotiations to forge a settlement.

The board's recommendations in the NWA-AMFA case now are expected to remain secret unless Northwest's mechanics refuse to ratify the contract proposal.

Oberstar called the deal "a great tribute" to Anderson, and said Anderson had "immersed himself in the negotiations virtually around the clock" during the final weekend.

A boost for all

The settlement could bolster AMFA, a non-AFL/CIO union seeking to expand its representation of mechanics at major airlines, including No. 1 United Airlines.

Despite the obvious increase in labor costs that the tentative agreement represents at Northwest, the airline's stock rose $1.04 Monday to $22.66 per share.

According to an AMFA information sheet, the tentative agreement immediately would raise base pay for mechanics by 24.4 percent. Airline cleaners and custodians, also part of the union, would receive an initial pay increase of 13 percent, to $18.23 for a senior cleaner.

Because of increases in certain premiums that supplement the base rate for mechanics, a 14-year NWA mechanic holding two licenses and working the second shift would make $33.50 under the proposed pact, 27.6 percent more than the current $26.25.

In Northwest's March 11 "supposal," the proposed rate was $33 for the same worker.

On the issue of back pay, AMFA leaders had continually said they would not accept what all other Northwest unions accepted in their most recent contracts -- a lump sum payment equal to 3.5 percent of a worker's W2 wage earnings from October 1996, when the contract came up for renewal. Instead, mechanics wanted 100 percent of their initial pay raise applied retroactively to October 1996.

Under the tentative agreement, the average cleaner or custodian would receive $6,600 in "retro" money. A mechanic who has worked a lot of overtime since late 1996 stands to collect a lump sum of nearly $22,000.

New to Northwest's final offer was an additional "one-time pay adjustment" of $3,750 for mechanics and $1,875 for cleaners and custodians. Also new was a company concession to include all pay premiums when calculating overtime rates for mechanics. Currently, only a mechanic's base pay is used to calculate overtime.

On pension, Northwest reintroduced its "supposal" rate of $85. Previously, the company had offered a rate of $75. AMFA was asking for $90.

[Diablo]

It all looks pretty good on paper, but we all know how they can hide the truth behind figures, is it a good enough offer to recompence for the last four years redtail???

I hope so, for the rest of us down trodden.