A bankruptcy judge refused on Thursday to allow Mesaba Airlines to reject its contracts with union workers. Pilots, flight attendants and mechanics at the feeder carrier for Northwest Airlines Corp. had threatened to strike if Mesaba was allowed to impose its terms on them.
"Clearly, the parties can -- and should -- continue efforts toward a consensual resolution," Judge Gregory Kishel wrote in his order.
Mesaba spokeswoman Elizabeth Costello said she didn't have an immediate comment on the ruling.
Mesaba pilots had promised to strike if the airline imposed pay cuts on them. Flight attendants and mechanics had also threatened job actions.
Mesaba gets its planes and passengers from Northwest, and the carriers filed for bankruptcy protection within a month of each other last fall. Mesaba, a unit of MAIR Holdings Inc., has said it will only be able to keep flying for Northwest if it gets cost cuts from its workers.
Mesaba is the only air service in many of the 98 mostly Midwestern cities it serves.
Costello had said the airline believes a strike would be illegal and said the company would take legal action to stop one.
"We remain intent on making a deal with ALPA and the other union," Mesaba attorney Michael Meyer told bankruptcy Judge Gregory Kishel at a hearing Thursday, before Kishel issued his ruling.
Bankruptcy law gives companies the right to reject contracts, including union pacts. Bankrupt airlines have used this power to negotiate cost savings from workers.
Mesaba's labor trouble comes just as it is trying to keep its Northwest business or win business from another carrier. Northwest has put its regional flying out for bids, and its current regional carriers, Mesaba and Pinnacle Airlines Inc., have said they are seeking the business.
In the meantime, Northwest has said it will trim Mesaba's fleet to just 49 Saab turboprop planes that seat no more than 34 passengers. That's down from a fleet that was once about 100 planes, including a growing number of small jets.
Also Thursday, talks continued between Northwest and its baggage handlers and ramp workers. A New York bankruptcy judge could rule as early as Friday on whether Northwest can reject that union contract.
Northwest is Michigan's largest air passenger carrier. Together, Northwest and its Mesaba and Pinnacle partners handled 78 percent of the passengers at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in the first half of 2005.
Chicago Tribune
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