Behind the numbers that dominate Mesaba Airlines' bankruptcy filing are the people. More than 300 of those people ? airline workers, their spouses and their children ? packed a ballroom at the Mall of America to say "enough is enough" to Mesaba's plans to make them the lowest-paid workers in the airline industry.

Among those people who turned out for Wednesday's rally: Jason Kronberg, of Apple Valley, who has been a pilot at Mesaba for nearly nine years.

"It's devastating," Kronberg said of Mesaba's attempt to impose wage and benefit cuts on its workers that average 19.4 percent. "It's got me actively pursuing other interests," he said, "because I can't afford to provide for my family at the cuts that they're asking for."

Kronberg's wife, Stacy, and their 14-month-old son, Tanner, joined the rally ? Tanner enthusiastically helping with the crowd's frequent applause by pounding together two balloons that were nearly as big as he is.

"The pay is ridiculous," said Kevin Margetts, of Eagan, a pilot at Mesaba for two years who was at the rally with his wife, Kristen, and their 17-month-old son, Nathan. Mesaba's plan to start pilots at $21,000 a year is a far cry from the popular misperception that pilots routinely pull down six-figure incomes, Margetts said. The reality is that both he and Kristen have to work "because I can't make a decent wage and I can't provide for my family."

"I would like to be able to stay home with my son and I can't do that," Kristen Margetts said.

Mesaba pilot Kevin Margetts plays with his 17-month-old son, Nathan, before Wednesday's rally. Union Advocate photo

Bankruptcy a 'sham'
What makes the cuts more aggravating is that Mesaba, until last year, was profitable. But Mesaba's parent company, MAIR Holdings, has sucked profits out of Mesaba, following the infamous tradition of Frank Lorenzo at the now-defunct Eastern Airlines, speakers said.

The unions say MAIR has stashed away an estimated $120 million that Mesaba can't touch, leading several speakers to call the bankruptcy filing a "sham" and "fraud." If Mesaba executives really feared for the future of the airline, they wouldn't buy $2 million homes, as one executive did last summer, Margetts said.

"So don't tell me you're worried about the company when you're doing stuff like that," he said. "They're making decisions like that, while we're making decisions [on] who's going to watch our son while we both go off to work."

"What these guys are trying to do to you ought to be against the law," said Wakefield Gordon, an officer for the Air Line Pilots Association at Pinnacle Airlines which, like Mesaba, provide regional Airlink service for Northwest Airlines. "You don't deserve this kind of treatment."

He was not alone in harshly criticizing "shameless" behavior by Mesaba management and how bankruptcy laws fail to protect workers.

Jason Kronberg: "I can't afford to provide for my family at the cuts that they're asking for." Union Advocate photo

The rally ? sponsored by ALPA, the Association of Flight Attendants/CWA, and the Airline Mechanics Fraternal Association ? was a vivid demonstration of labor solidarity among the three largest unions at Mesaba, which together represent more than 1,600 of Mesaba's 3,800 employees. Events were simulcast to similar gatherings in Detroit and Memphis.

Deadline extended
"The only path to survival for Mesaba is to reach a consensual agreement with its workers," said Capt. Tom Wychor, chair of ALPA's Master Executive Council at Mesaba. Members of all three unions have granted overwhelming strike authorization ? a weapon the unions will use, Wychor said, if Mesaba fails to negotiate and instead persuades the bankruptcy court to "abrogate" union contracts.

Nullifying the contracts would allow Mesaba to impose whatever cuts it wants in jobs, wages, benefits and working conditions. The court previously gave the unions until March 27 to reach an agreement or risk abrogation, but they agreed with the airline Tuesday to extend that deadline until April 25.

"You can collaborate with AMFA, AFA and ALPA," Wychor told Mesaba, "or we will collaborate with each other."

"This is where the race to the bottom stops," said Pat Friend, international president of the flight attendants union.

Michael Kuchta edits the Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly. E-mail him at advocate@stpaulunions.org or visit the Assembly's website, www.stpaulunions.org