AFA-CWA Defends Right to Strike at Northwest

AFA-CWA gave Northwest Airlines notice of intent to exercise their right to strike, bringing "CHAOS" to the company as early as August 15. And next week the union will defend that right before a bankruptcy judge in New York.

The union threatened strike action immediately after the airline on July 31 imposed terms of a tentative contract, negotiated by the employees' former union and approved by the bankruptcy court, which slashes wages and benefits for the 9,200 flight attendants by about 40 percent. The workers earlier had rejected that tentative settlement by a vote of more than 80 percent.

After AFA-CWA won an election to represent the unit on July 6, the union negotiated improvements in the prior settlement, but was hamstrung by the bankruptcy court's mandate for concessions totaling $195 million per year. Workers voted down the second tentative contract by a 55 to 45 percent margin.

"Our members have spoken. These drastic cuts to our pay, benefits and work rules are simply unacceptable," said Mollie Reiley, AFA-CWA interim master executive council president at Northwest.

The union is seeking to resume talks and negotiate a new settlement, but Northwest's only response so far has been to file suit to try to block the flight attendants from exercising their right to strike.

AFA-CWA maintains that labor law governing the airline industry is clear — if an employer unilaterally changes contract terms, workers can strike. "It's America. No one has to come to work for terms they didn't agree to," AFA-CWA's General Counsel David Borer told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.