Northwest, United Airline Unions Threaten Strikes March 2, 2001 5:38 pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mechanics at Northwest Airlines Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. airline, threatened to strike on Friday over contract talks, while the flight attendants union at No. 1 airline United Airlines alerted members that it may strike if its not taken into account in merger talks with US Airways. The Association of Flight Attendants union at United said it may strike if the airline's parent, UAL Corp., goes ahead with its purchase of US Airways Group Inc. without a waiver from the flight attendants.

Talks between the union and the airline broke down Thursday over whether to link a pay increase to consent from flight attendants for United's planned purchase of US Airways.

At Northwest, about 10,000 members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, Local 33, began voting at 4 a.m. CST Friday and have until 1 a.m. CST Saturday to cast their ballot on whether to strike. The union said it expects to announce results at a press conference Saturday afternoon.

The two strike threats are the latest to hang over the nation's biggest airlines. On Thursday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the Transport Workers Union, which represents 31,000 mechanics, fleet service clerks and other workers at AMR Corp.'s American Airlines from disruptive actions, ordering the union to stop such job actions taken Wednesday and Thursday at New York's JFK International Airport.

NWA's mechanics, cleaners and custodians have been negotiating with Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest since October 1996. The two sides are expected to resume talks on wages, retirement benefits and retroactive pay on March 7, just days before a federally mandated "cooling-off" period expires.

While mechanics, cleaners and custodians are technically free to walk off the job when the period expires March 12, President George W. Bush is expected to appoint an emergency board that could put off a strike for at least 60 days. Talks would continue during that time and the National Mediation Board could make a non-binding settlement recommendation.

According to AMFA spokesman Paul Volker, union members have three choices on the ballot. They can vote in favor of some sort of job action, whether they prefer an out-and-out strike or "random and intermittent" job actions, and whether they want the union's executive council to make a strike decision.

The flight attendant union at United said its attorneys stand ready to file a lawsuit to prevent the airline from "unilaterally changing" its contract.

The union said there will be a formal vote on the strike on March 8, and it urged members not to take any job actions at this time.

United, the world's largest airline, said on Thursday that it was "disappointed" its flight attendants had walked out of talks about a special pay increase and said it remained open to discussion.

Delta Air Lines Inc. and the Air Line Pilots Association, which are embroiled in a contract dispute, on Thursday jointly requested an offer of arbitration from the National Mediation Board, the airline said on Thursday.

The move brings the parties one step closer to a 30-day "cooling off" period, after which Delta pilots could potentially strike.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2001

Answers

I didn't realize so many airline personnel were so close to strike action. Perhaps they might give Bush a bit of a break--I hope so.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2001

If they don't spring break will be a disaster. :)

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2001

Gawd, at my age spring break means I get to toil in the roses rather than the house!

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2001

My roses are still under a two feet of snow

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2001

Having spent more than 30 years in the airline industry, I can tell you that these labor/management disputes are the end result of many months, or years, of the workers trying to obtain industry scale wages or working conditions. The managements in these cases see themselves as the power holders and there is an inner desire to keep the workers at as low a pay as possible. While the press reports the labor discontent, they do not report that during the same period the management people received health pay and benefit increases. It's the same management mentality that created chaos in the coal mining industry.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2001