Minneapolis,MN-- Northwest Airlines Corp., the world's fourth largest airline, got off to a smooth start by keeping its planes flying when mechanics decided to strike. About 4,400 Northwest unionized mechanics, cleaners and custodians walked off the job Saturday morning after refusing to take pay cuts and layoffs that would have reduced their ranks almost by half. The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association(AMFA) mechanics averaged about $70,000 a year and cleaners and custodians can make around $40,000. The company wants to cut their wages by about 25 percent. The union negotiator Jim Young said "the mechanics would rather see the airline go into bankruptcy than agree to Northwest's terms". This stance from the AMFA is so fucking stupid. They just alienated all of the other Northwest groups; the pilots union, the ground workers union and the flight attendants union.
The Pilots union has agreed to take a pay cut, generating about $300 million in savings. And Northwest is in negotiations with the ground workers and flight attendants. To this effect, the AMFA may find themselves, the only ones in the Northwest family, without jobs- really soon. If Northwest goes into bankruptcy, all contracts need to be redone and since the mechanics union seems to be the only one wanting to strike, a bankruptcy trustee would 'call them' for it.
In other words, the Startribune would have lots of 'help wanted' revenue from Northwest.
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