Rank and file activists within the union have mobilized the membership to vote down concessionary contracts. Northwest and sell-outs in the top Teamster leadership want this to stop. Rank and file activists believe their efforts are the target of Northwest's lawsuit. Bureaucrats, loyal to Teamster International President Hoffa, have been inactive in face of the computer seizures.

At Northwest Airlines, management has tried everything under the sun in order to ram a bad contract down the throats of flight attendants. The company and the union have been negotiating on-and-off for a contract since 1996. Last summer, in a matter of hours after receiving the proposal from the negotiating committee, workers looked at it and decided the contract proposal was a give-away.

With contract negotiations under way again, the computer seizure might not have the intended affect. Many workers are furious at NWA's attack on their rights

Northwest has fired a number of workers in this run up to negotiations, placing rank and file activists in a tough spot. Billie Davenport, Local 2000 President, has said that the jobs of the activists will be regained through the contract negotiations. This puts a damper on the level of resistance rank and file activists can take up if the contract is bad.

Northwest workers have made it clear that they will settle for nothing short of a decent contract. If the negotiating team offers up another concessionary contract, be sure that the rank and file will mobilize to defeat it.

#MinneapolisMN #News #AirlineIndustry #NorthwestAirlines #FlightAttendants #TeamstersLocal2000

The Northwest Airlines flight attendants have been attempting to negotiate a new contract for over three years.

Under past president Ron Carey, the International Union provided the flight attendants with resources and personnel to help generate effective rank and file activity.

For the first time, energized and involved members participated in a contract campaign. Contract Action Teams, or CATs, brought hundreds of rank and file members throughout Northwest's far-flung bases together for public actions. These rallies built support for their struggle in the labor movement and among the public.

When Jim Hoffa, Jr., took office this January, one of the first things he did was to fire the CAT coordinators from the International, and hire his lawyer pals to bring 'expertise' to contract negotiations. Reports are that on September 17, the Local 2000 executive board voted 3-4 to get rid of the CAT's.

Hoffa Jr., spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on videos and slick propaganda trying to force the settlement on workers. He failed.

Local 2000

The leadership of flight attendants, Local 2000, was elected two years ago, in the midst of a member upsurge against old guard leaders. But since Hoffa Jr., gained control of the International and undercut the negotiations, some of the local executive board officers have drifted away from the members.

Hoffa Jr., had wanted the ballots counted at the Teamster headquarters in Washington, D.C. Reformers remaining on the e-board forced this contract ballot to be counted with membership oversight at local union bases.

The rank and file opposed this contract, based on betrayal by NWA management. Workers made painful sacrifices to keep the company afloat after a leveraged buyout in the late 80s by financiers Al Checci and Gary Wilson. As the airline returned to a profitable status, corporate thieves took tens of millions of dollars in bonuses and stock options, and refused to give workers a decent raise.

Proposed pensions under the rejected contract would have risen, but too little, and work rules, like the one that pays attendants only for flight hours, not for boarding and delayed flights, would have remained in place.

Last summer's successful pilots' strike, which brought airline management to their knees, resulted in a fair contract for the pilots. Now, other employee groups need to fight for their contracts.

Following rejection of the proposed flight attendant settlement, rank and file activists are gearing up to pressure management, the International Union, and their own local leadership for a fair contract. Major selective disruptions of NWA flight operations are a real possibility in the near future.

#MinneapolisMN #News #AirlineIndustry #NorthwestAirlines #FlightAttendants #TeamstersLocal2000

Minneapolis, MN – A major victory for labor occurred when pilots at Northwest Airlines returned to work after winning significant pay and job security increases during an 18-day strike. Northwest Airlines ceased all flights on August 28, when 6,000 pilots shut down the carrier.

The strike came after 22 months of unsuccessful negotiations by all 6 unions representing close to 50,000 NWA workers. The Air Line Pilots' Association (ALPA), International Association of Machinists (IAM), and Teamsters represent the vast majority of employees at Northwest. An executive council representing all unions at the airline was formed early in the negotiating process to coordinate activities of all the unions. Not one pilot crossed the picket line.

Prior to the strike, NWA management refused to meet worker demands for pay increases and job security. Huge pay concessions by employees in the early 1990s saved the airline from bankruptcy after a leveraged buyout by corporate financiers Al Checci and Gary Wilson. In the years following the 1993 worker wage givebacks, NWA executives took huge bonus payments and cashed in multi-million dollar stock options as the airline turned in its highest profits in history. Workers believed that as their old contracts expired, they too would be rewarded for their years of sacrifices.

Instead, nearly two years went by in fruitless negotiations, as management proposed “cost-saving” measures that threatened the jobs of all union workers with outsourcing, and refused to take seriously union demands for compensation increases. A key issue was Northwest's intention to use new regional jets to replace DC-9s flown by Northwest crews. The regional jets are operated by Northwest Airlink, one of two regional carriers financed by Northwest, but not operated by Northwest personnel.

Pilots believed more Northwest routes would be served by the underpaid Airlink crews unless the company agreed to union proposals for maintaining Northwest crews and equipment on routes. Teamster flight attendants are also directly affected by this issue. The settlement reached by the pilots guarantees that routes currently flown by Northwest crews will not be shifted to Airlink, and that new routes served by Airlink will be linked to expanding Northwest-crewed routes.

Northwest management openly called for presidential intervention to bail them out of the strike. President Clinton is empowered by the National Railway Labor Act, under which airlines operate, to order pilots back to work for a 60-day “cooling off” period. The unions opposed government meddling, fearing a settlement favorable to management would be imposed. Political pressure by the union kept Clinton from ordering the pilots back to work.

The successful outcome of the pilots strike may help the remaining unions in their negotiations, although a strike by the Machinists or Teamsters remains a distinct possibility. Prior to the pilots strike, the Machinists leadership recommended a contract that the membership overwhelmingly rejected.

Teamster solidarity was high throughout the strike. Local 2000, the national local representing 10,000 flight attendants, has organized a member-oriented contract campaign along the lines of the UPS strike organizing. Contract Action Teams, or CATs, are active at each city where workers live, and coordinate national days of action. This higher level of activity by flight attendants is the result of actions by their newly elected, pro-reform leadership. Northwest management tried to minimize the public impact of the flight attendants by banning them from having rallies on airport grounds.

The determination of the pilots to stand up to an aggressive and hostile management has resulted in a real victory. The outcome has implications for the future of the airline industry, which was contemplating a rapid erosion of wages and benefits in the name of competition. Instead, the pressure will be for better pay for the employees who make air travel safe and professional.

#MinneapolisMN #News #AirlineIndustry #NorthwestAirlines #PilotStrike

El Salvador

18 October 2005

Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association – AMFA

Presente

Brothers and sisters, compañeros and compañeras:

In the name of the Frente Sindical Salvadoreño (Salvadoran Labor Front) receive solidarity and fraternal greetings to the members of AMFA that are on strike against the anti-union policies of Northwest Airlines.

The Salvadoran Labor Front is a federation of 27 unions that have made the decision to struggle together against the policies of transnational capital. Currently, we are struggling for a livable wage and dignified work for Salvadoran women and men. We are working against the privatization of public services, against the high cost of living and against the neoliberal policies that each day create more poverty and a greater concentration of wealth.

We understand that the members of AMFA have been on strike since the 19 of August and that you are confronting one of the most recalcitrant corporations in the U.S. Northwest is trying to negate the rights and victories that unions have won through decades of hard work. A defeat for the mechanics will open the door for the destruction of other unions in the airline industry, as well as unions in other industries.

Your struggle is important not only for yourselves, but it is significant for the entire labor movement in the U.S. and around the world. Northwest wants to outsource the work of the mechanics to other countries, including El Salvador. El Salvador is a country where there are ongoing violations of human and labor rights. It’s clear that if Northwest does not respect the unions that already exist at the company, they will not permit the unionization of their international locations and they will not respect international labor laws.

On this occasion, the members of the FSS would like to express our steadfast solidarity with you. Only through working class solidarity can we stop the strikebreaking and other attempts to dismantle unions. Only through this solidarity can we build a worldwide labor movement. Your struggle is our struggle. We anxiously await word on what we can do to help you, within the context of our modest resources.

Long live the Northwest workers!

Long live the labor movement!

Long live international solidarity!

[Signed by the general secretaries of the member unions of the FSS ]

#ElSalvador #AirlineIndustry #Statement #strike #AMFA #NorthwestAirlines #laborSolidarity #union #AMFAStrikeAgainstNorthwestAirlines #Strikes