If my full-time job were to write fictional stories designed to incite working-class folks against corporate elites, I’d have a hard time spinning a better tall tale than the true-life story happening right here in my adopted hometown.
In just three days, the Northwest Airlines mechanics’ union is scheduled to go on strike against the airline. Daily front page stories in the
Minneapolis Star-Tribune counting down to the deadline have highlighted the situation in which Northwest finds itself:
Like many of the legacy airlines, Northwest has been in a fairly constant precarious financial situation for many years, including currently staring in the face of bankruptcy. In order to help contain costs, the airline is asking the union to accept a 53% loss in mechanics jobs and take a pay cut of over 25%. They’ve lined up and trained scab mechanics and insist that they’ll maintain a regular flying schedule should they fail to negotiate a new contract by the strike deadline, although the flight attendants’ union has pledged to walk out in solidarity (what a beautiful concept) with the mechanics, which could throw a wrench in things. Of course, the storyline out of Northwest is that these massive cuts in the mechanics’ contracts are necessary for the fiscal health of the airline.
Except when you dig a bit into the history of Northwest, as the Strib did this weekend while comparing it to highly profitable Southwest Airlines, you learn a bit more about some other factors in the airline’s current dire straits. First, Northwest is not achieving much efficiency in terms of flights—the planes spend too much time on the ground and not enough in the air, generating revenue. Second, Northwest failed to lock in fuel costs at a time when fuel was much cheaper and as a result now pays roughly 40% more for fuel than Southwest does. Third, Northwest has a history of more contentious relationships with various unions; by contrast, Southwest has worked hard to facilitate a work environment that is friendly not only to employees, but to the organized unions as well, which has helped fend off contentious labor problems. Finally, as Northwest stock prices have plunged by 30% over the past three years, signaling the low performance of the company, CEO Doug Steenland has collected over $8 million on salary and bonuses (low compared to other industries, but one of the highest total compensation packages in the airline industry). Each of these is due at least in some part to poor management—and yet the CEO keeps getting paid his millions while holding a hard line for significant concessions from the guys who make sure the planes don’t fall out of the sky?
While I’d love to make a larger point about the climate in this country regarding both the reputation of unions and the obscenity of executive compensation, this post has gone on long enough. To Northwest’s credit, they have made efforts to cut costs in other areas as well, including the total elimination of even the tiniest bag of pretzels on most domestic flights. But cuts in pay for what seems to be a significantly underperforming management team do not appear to be part of the plan. I tend to be a support-local-businesses sort of gal, I’m not reflexively anti-business, and I fully recognize how important Northwest is to the Twin Cities’ economy. But until the airline recognizes that labor is not responsible for the airlines’ woes, and decides to share the pain in a more real way, I won’t be flying with them—certainly, I won’t be crossing any picket lines. I hope any of you making air travel plans will make that decision, as well.
