While still officially on strike the media has been reporting the last week or so the strike has effectively failed.
I"m not union-minded and there were some union politics surrounding this strike but nevertheless, it can't be a good thing for mechanics on either side of the border.
Like ripples in a pond from a rock thrown in the middle it'll eventually have an effect here in lower wages / harder wage negotiations.
Compare that to Air Canada Pilot's Association bringing Air Canada to heel when they first tried to buy B787's and B777's earlier this year.
Northwest Airlines mechanics strike.
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Pat Richard
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They don't even get that.
From the press:
"When AMFA called a strike Aug. 19, there were about 4,100 AMFA mechanics, cleaners and custodians on Northwest's payroll. The airline offered to retain 2,750 mechanics, but those workers would have seen 25 percent pay cuts. Northwest proposed to eliminate the remaining mechanic jobs, as well as all of the cleaner and custodian positions. The carrier offered up to 26 weeks of severance for those who'd lose their jobs.
AMFA's leadership did not put that August offer up for a vote by the membership. The rank-and-file also did not get to vote on a September offer that would have saved 1,080 mechanics jobs, or on an October proposal from Northwest that would have kept more than 500 AMFA members on the job.
By November, Northwest confirmed that it had hired all the mechanics it needed for its permanent workforce and had shifted the remaining work to outside vendors and another Northwest union.
Northwest has permanently replaced the strikers, and now about 880 mechanics work in the carrier's Twin Cities and Detroit hubs. About 480 of those mechanics are AMFA members who crossed picket lines and returned to work or Northwest mechanics furloughed before the strike.
Delle-Femine wrote that he expects "that only a fraction of those who struck will in fact be reinstated" in their jobs. "
So basicly the new deal is they get to be on laid off and for that they get a severance. The union tried to play hardball and shot itself in the foot.
I will never understand why is it that whenever companies are in heavy financial trouble the unions alway play hardball???? (and I mean bankruptcy) I mean Northwest is lucky to even still be operating right now. Their debt is worse than most other carriers.
From the press:
"When AMFA called a strike Aug. 19, there were about 4,100 AMFA mechanics, cleaners and custodians on Northwest's payroll. The airline offered to retain 2,750 mechanics, but those workers would have seen 25 percent pay cuts. Northwest proposed to eliminate the remaining mechanic jobs, as well as all of the cleaner and custodian positions. The carrier offered up to 26 weeks of severance for those who'd lose their jobs.
AMFA's leadership did not put that August offer up for a vote by the membership. The rank-and-file also did not get to vote on a September offer that would have saved 1,080 mechanics jobs, or on an October proposal from Northwest that would have kept more than 500 AMFA members on the job.
By November, Northwest confirmed that it had hired all the mechanics it needed for its permanent workforce and had shifted the remaining work to outside vendors and another Northwest union.
Northwest has permanently replaced the strikers, and now about 880 mechanics work in the carrier's Twin Cities and Detroit hubs. About 480 of those mechanics are AMFA members who crossed picket lines and returned to work or Northwest mechanics furloughed before the strike.
Delle-Femine wrote that he expects "that only a fraction of those who struck will in fact be reinstated" in their jobs. "
So basicly the new deal is they get to be on laid off and for that they get a severance. The union tried to play hardball and shot itself in the foot.
I will never understand why is it that whenever companies are in heavy financial trouble the unions alway play hardball???? (and I mean bankruptcy) I mean Northwest is lucky to even still be operating right now. Their debt is worse than most other carriers.
