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The flight attendants union at bankrupt Northwest Airlines said on Tuesday it is "outraged" over a letter the carrier sent to members saying it (Northwest Airlines) would not renegotiate if the workers rejected a tentative contract that has been put to vote.
The flight attendants are deciding whether to accept a contract that would save Northwest $195 million annually and move the airline closer to its goal of $1.4 billion in labor savings.
In a May 12 letter to the workers, Northwest said that if the union members rejected the current proposal, the airline would try to impose other measures, including assigning 30 percent of international flying to foreign flight attendants.
The letter, signed by Suzanne Boda, Northwest's vice president of inflight services, has only fueled workers' ill will toward the airline, a spokeswoman for the Professional Flight Attendants Association said.
"They are outraged. And we agree with their sentiment," said Karen Schultz. "We're already under a 20 percent pay cut and our members are trying to figure out how to survive under that."
The flight attendants will complete a vote on the tentative agreement on June 6. The workers also will vote soon on whether to replace the PFAA union with a rival union, the Association of Flight Attendants.
"... if this TA fails to ratify, the company does not have the luxury of returning to the bargaining table for round 2," Boda said in the letter.
She said some workers may think that if they vote down the current proposal and select new union representation, then they might get a more generous offer from the airline.
"Those hopes, if they exist, are misplaced," Boda wrote.
Northwest, which declared bankruptcy in September, has savings deals with most other unionized work groups. The carrier has asked for court permission to void the contracts of work groups that have yet to yield the savings the airline says it needs to survive.
Northwest was back in court on Tuesday in a trial that could see two work groups represented by the International Association of Machinists lose their current collective bargaining agreement. The two groups, with about 5,500 total members, rejected the last tentative agreement negotiated by the IAM.Reuters.com
The company doesn't have the luxury of unilaterally deciding not to return to the bargaining table.
Only a judge or federal mediator can determine that negotiations have broken off. A federal mediator releases the parties into self help: imposition by the company of work rules and then flight attendants have the right to strike. A judge could void a contract, order talks to continue, or any number of creative remedies.
It's not up to NWA alone to decide what happens here, and this latest action is just an attempt to intimidate its flight attendants. I expect we'll see some sort of legal action taken of their behalf to prevent this activity from continuing.
Posted by: Mary Jo | May 17, 2006 7:20 PM | Permalink to Comment