More than 80 Machinists union members picketed outside Northwest Airlines? corporate headquarters Tuesday morning, greeting an arbitrator who will decide whether Northwest can unilaterally replace customer service agents at airport ticket counters with lower-paid skycaps and more electronic ticket terminals.

The union members, many of them still in uniform after completing early morning shifts at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, chanted slogans and carried preprinted and homemade signs such as ?You?re next,? ?Don?t ask me, ask a machine? and ?Jobs worth fighting for.? Another round of informational picketing was scheduled for later in the day.

?We need to let the arbitrator know this is important,? said Ken Hooker, president of Machinists Lodge 1833, which represents customer service agents, skycaps and other Northwest employees in the Twin Cities.

Union members said Northwest?s actions not only attack their jobs, but will create more problems for passengers checking in for flights.

Tuesday?s arbitration will decide whether Northwest violated the Machinists? contract in cutting customer service jobs and creating a two-tier skycap system without negotiating the changes. The union is also arguing that, because their contract currently is open and being renegotiated, Northwest?s maneuver violates airline labor law, which requires maintaining the status quo during negotiations.

Eroding customer service
Kathy Detert, a customer service agent for nearly 16 years, said Northwest?s plan means there will be few, if any, customer service agents at ticket counters where passengers check in and check their luggage.

?Corporate America has forgotten about customer service,? says Nancy Rattray, a customer service agent at Northwest for 30 years. ?They?ve quit caring about people.?

?Northwest, what they want to do is charge the passenger the same amount of money and use an e-ticket machine,? says Bobby DePace, president of Machinists Air Transport District 143, which represents Northwest employees nationwide. ?If it works, fine. The problem with that is, if it falters, or there?s delays, or if there?s cancellations, there?s not going to be agents around to assist these people.

?What?s going to happen,? DePace says, ?is they?re going to have to pick up a phone and call someone that?s not even at the airport. We don?t think passengers are going to like that.?

Rattray fears that passengers with problems will be stuck navigating an automated phone system. Northwest employees are trying to take a stand to prevent that, she says. ?When customers have a problem,? Detert says, ?they don?t want to deal with a machine, they don?t want to talk with someone on the phone. They want to talk with a real person who can give them answers.?

?They used to care about customer service. Not anymore,? says Char Jenneke, who has worked at Northwest for 19 years but is likely to lose her customer service position if Northwest succeeds in implementing its plan. She says she fears Northwest is especially alienating passengers who fly first-class and expect extra service.

Skycaps won?t have the experience or the resources to handle ticketing problems, Jenneke said. ?It?s sad. We?re going to lose so many good people.?

Dividing employees
The plan is also pitting workers against each other just so Northwest ?can get cheaper labor,? says Kathy Welters, who is a few months shy of 25 years of customer service experience. ?There?s real friction. Face it, the new skycaps are taking our jobs.?

The new inside skycaps not only will be paid substantially less than customer service agents, but also less than skycaps who work at curbside to check customers? luggage. Outside skycaps receive tips, Local 1833?s Hooker says, a fact that was considered when negotiating contractual pay scales. But Northwest will forbid inside skycaps from accepting tips, he said.

?They?re always trying to do something to push the envelope. This is just one more thing,? Hooker says.

Experienced skycaps make about $11 an hour, which is only about half of what a typical customer service agent makes, DePace says.

Northwest has pledged that if it loses the arbitration, it will abandon the plan.

Kathy Sanders, a reservations agent who has worked at Northwest for 35 years, was among more than 80 Machinists conducting informational picketing outside Northwest's corporate headquarters in Eagan Tuesday morning. Union Advocate photo

Customer service agents Donna Northrup (in the rat mask) and Kathy Detert say Northwest's attempt to replace their jobs with electronic ticketing machines will degrade customer service. "When customers have a problem," Detert said, "they don't want to deal with a machine, they don't want to talk with someone on the phone, they want to talk with a real person who can give them answers." Union Advocate photo

For more information
Visit the IAM Local 1833 website, www.localiam1833.org