Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn., September 3, 2005, Saturday

Copyright 2005 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
Copyright 2005 St. Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)
Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

September 3, 2005, Saturday

SECTION: BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL NEWS

HEADLINE: Strikers, Northwest apparently no closer to solution

BYLINE: By Julie Forster

BODY:
ST. PAUL, Minn. _ As their dispute enters its third week, there's no sign of renewed talks between Northwest Airlines and the union representing its 4,400 striking mechanics and cleaners. And there's no sign of the agency that plays a key role in getting those talks going.
The significance of the absence of the National Mediation Board's involvement since mechanics walked off the job at 11:01 p.m., Aug. 19, can be looked at this way: In the 1998 pilots' strike at Northwest, the board re-entered the picture on the eighth day. The strike ended a week later. At Comair in 2001, mediators waited 41 days before proposing new talks between the Delta Air Lines' regional carrier and its pilots' union. That strike lasted nearly three months.
"The mediation board still can play a role in this, but at this point they are looking for some indication from the parties that there is some reason to meet," said Steve MacFarlane, assistant national director for the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents the striking mechanics and cleaners.
Little reason emerged this past week. Mechanics' union members tried to turn up the heat on replacements, protesting at Minneapolis hotels where many are staying. Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest, meanwhile, continued to say it's operating just fine despite the strike. It also warned it's running out of time to restructure itself out of bankruptcy court. Rising fuel costs could force it to hike its $1.1 billion labor cost-cutting target.
"I suspect mediators are still involved but you have to have something to mediate, some way to bridge the difference and it's unclear what that would be in this situation," said Harley Shaiken, a labor expert at the University of California, Berkeley.
Technically there is no deadline for the two parties to resolve their dispute, and it could continue indefinitely. A spokeswoman for the mediation board would only say that the board is available to assist the parties in reaching an agreement and that it encourages the parties to move swiftly in that direction.
Unless the airline's operations take a dramatic turn for the worse, the board is unlikely to intervene in the short term. "At this point, they can't argue that it is affecting the whole transportation system and the economy as a whole," said Rebecca Givan, an assistant professor of collective bargaining at Cornell University.
As each day goes by, the pressure on the union mounts.
Striking workers have no paychecks and are now paying hundreds of dollars monthly for health care premiums the company used to pick up. The union has no strike fund, and because it is not affiliated with the AFL-CIO it can't turn to those unions for financial support.
Mechanics' union officials still predict Northwest's contingency operating plan will run into big trouble. They claim Northwest is facing shortages in some maintenance specialties and is appealing to strikers with special licenses to return to work as consultants for premium wages. Northwest denies the claim.
Union members also contend that managers have told them they are required to work 12-hour days six days a week to keep up with the workload. Northwest acknowledged managers are working six-day weeks, but would not confirm the number of hours.
Meanwhile, the airline's temporary work force stays in hotels under security. Company-supplied buses come to the hotels to pick them up for work and drive them back to the hotels after the shift.
"When people are out of work and working under extreme conditions, that puts pressure on both sides," said John Remington, a professor of industrial relations at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.
"The more they suffer, the more they will want to sit back down at the table," agreed Joseph Daly, a mediator and arbitrator, who is also a law professor at Hamline University.
The mediators, he said, have probably decided that the company isn't suffering enough for any meaningful discussions to take place, and bringing the two sides together too early could harden positions and hurt the process.
Making that call is not easy. "The mediation board has to chose its moments carefully," said Joshua Javits, a former chairman of the National Mediation Board. "If it is too precipitant in offering to intervene and bring the parties back to the bargaining table, it can lose credibility."
In any case, he said, the mediation board can only bring the parties together. The will to resolve the dispute has to come from both sides. "Timing is everything."
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