Bloomburg reports the airline eliminated about 385 flights. The bulk of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Northwest’s flights connect through airport bases in Minneapolis, Detroit and Memphis, Tennessee.
The nationwide strike began at 12:01 a.m. today with picketers planning to march in front of terminal and cargo entrances at 35 U.S. airports, union leaders for the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association said in interviews. The walkout by Northwest’s 4,200 Northwest mechanics, aircraft cleaners and building custodians didn’t draw sympathy strikes from the carrier’s pilot, bag-handling and flight attendant unions.
“The key issue is will they be able to operate a reliable schedule,” said Julius Maldutis, an industry consultant in New York who has followed the airline business for 42 years.
The plan to keep flying may cost the airline about $107 million in total and relies on managers who are mechanics, 1,200 replacement mechanics, and contracting for more maintenance work. The company also trained about 1,500 flight attendants in case those workers walked out with the mechanics. Northwest declined to discuss flight cancellations or delays that occurred yesterday or today.
Pickets
Patty Biron, 59, who was on her way back to Dudley, Massachusetts, today on Northwest from Minneapolis was pleased that her flight was delayed just an hour and a half. She was traveling with her 86-year-old mother after visiting her son in Henderson, Minnesota, and said the delay gave them time to get something to eat at the airport.
“Any fly in the ointment for her is upsetting, but we’re doing just fine,” Biron said by phone from the airport. “If it’s delayed more than this then it will be very upsetting.”
The union planned pickets at passenger entrances and in front of airport trucking entrances in an effort to disrupt the delivery of supplies such as beverages and aircraft parts.
Allison Rosenstock, 31, who was traveling back to Washington from Detroit after picking up a 8-week-old Boston terrier puppy, said her flight this morning was 45 minutes late because of bad weather, though her flight out this afternoon is on time.
“I wish everybody well and I also hope that this doesn’t disrupt my flight today,” she said in an interview at the airport in Detroit.
Five Months of Talks
The talks broke down after five months of negotiating, mainly over the airline’s demand to fire all 600 of its cleaners and custodians and to pare mechanic jobs to 2,350 from 3,600.
Northwest has been trying to wrest $176 million of annual labor savings from its mechanics in an effort to cut overall labor expense by $1.1 billion and end four years of losses. The company, which is the only airline among the five biggest in the U.S. that hasn’t won concessions from most of its unions, has secured $300 million in givebacks from pilots and managers and is still in talks with flight attendants and bag handlers.
“The big surprise is that the other unions crossed the picket line,” Maldutis said. “In the past unions have shown solidarity.”
To contact the reporter on this story:
Lynne Marek in Chicago at: lmarek@bloomberg.net.
