Flight attendants counter Northwest concessions request

Since the two sides last met in December, when the NMB ended talks abruptly, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA has pushed the board to declare negotiations at an impasse and release the parties from negotiations. That would begin a process enabling the flight attendants, currently barred from striking by a court-ordered injunction, to take work action under the Railway Labor Act.

At the same time as representatives of the union and Northwest were meeting in Bloomington, flight attendants were picketing the Lindbergh Terminal, warning passengers that CHAOS – the flight attendants\’ trademarked strategy of targeted, random, unannounced strikes – could be coming soon.

"You can’t expect to take more than $200 million from the flight attendants without a fight," said David Borer, AFA’s general counsel, in a written statement. "Our flight attendants cannot be made to suffer for poor decisions by management."

Since July 31, Northwest flight attendants have been working under a management-imposed contract with pay, benefit and work-rule changes that have resulted in a 40-percent reduction in their pay and benefits.

In below-zero wind chills, flight attendants demonstrated Friday outside Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. St. Paul Union Advocate photo

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper authorized Northwest to impose the contract after the company, citing increased fuel costs and decreased passenger revenue, argued it needed concessions of $195 million over five years from the flight attendants.

But with fuel prices down and earnings up, Northwest no longer needs such a significant give-back from its flight attendants, said Jay Hong, president of the AFA\’s Northwest unit.

"Our contract proposal reflects more accurately the contributions made by the flight attendants as well as the other labor groups on the property," Hong said of the contract presented to management today, which also calls for improvements negotiated by the AFA in a tentative agreement rejected by the union\’s members last July.