MPR’s Eric Jansen reports on status of Northwest Airlines strike. Report includes numerous clips of commentary, including Walter Mondale, who is an NWA board member.
The U.S. Transportation Department has ordered Northwest Airlink flights to resume, despite Northwest Airlines being shut down by a pilot’s strike. Also, Northwest flight attendants who were laid off this week rallied at the state capitol to say they're 100 percent behind the pilots. The Federal Department of Transportation ordered Mesaba Aviation and Express Airlines to resume flights to 17 rural communities. The two airlines fly Northwest Airlink routes to Northwest Airlines hubs in Minneapolis.
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ERIC JANSEN: The Federal Department of Transportation late this afternoon ordered Mesaba Aviation and Express Airlines I to resume flights to 17 rural communities by next Tuesday. The two airlines fly Northwest Airlink routes to Northwest Airlines hubs in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Detroit, and Memphis. The federal order also directed Northwest to provide support services necessary for its Airlink affiliates to meet their obligations, to provide at least two round-trip flights per day, six days a week. That's one less flight per day than before the commuter services suspended operations Wednesday, saying they couldn't afford to fly with near-empty planes.
The Transportation Department's order comes as pressure mounts on the federal government to order the pilots back to work. The order may ease that pressure, but it won't eliminate it. John Campbell, head of the Chamber of Commerce of Fargo-Moorhead, says restoring Mesaba's route schedule will help, but not much.
JOHN CAMPBELL: It certainly will not fill the void of not having Northwest serving our community as the only jet service that we've had. Right now, we've got 800 seats that go out a day and 800 seats that come in a day, and you just don't replace that very easily.
ERIC JANSEN: Earlier this afternoon, hundreds of Northwest Airlines flight attendants rallied in support of striking pilots at the State Capitol. Flight attendants union president, Billie Davenport, said she called the rally to deliver a wake-up call to Northwest Airlines management.
BILLIE DAVENPORT: We have got to send a clear message to management that corporate greed has gone too far. Corporate greed has gotten beside themselves, and it's time for us or labor to show corporations that the greed has got to stop. It's got to stop!
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
ERIC JANSEN: Davenport says flight attendants stand unified behind pilots. The flight attendants contract with Northwest is also up for renewal. Davenport says many of the issues are similar, pay and job security. Davenport says flight attendants haven't had a raise in more than nine years, while corporate profits have more than tripled since 1993, when attendants, like pilots, made concessions to keep the airline solvent.
Pilots union chief, Steve Zoller, thanked attendants for supporting the pilot strike, even after the airline laid off more than 11,000 attendants Wednesday. Zoller says unions representing pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, and other workers have coalesced in the past three years.
STEVE ZOLLER: We've worked hard to understand each other's issues, and to understand each other's problems, and to learn to work together, and also to give moral support to each other. That effort has obviously been successful. And I thank you for your understanding and your show of support today for all of labor.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
ERIC JANSEN: Zoller accused Northwest of dragging out negotiations as long as possible in an effort to break union solidarity. But on his way from the podium, he told reporters he's hopeful about tomorrow's meeting between management and pilot negotiators in Chicago.
STEVE ZOLLER: They're characterized as exploratory talks, but we've got to get started somewhere. We want to stay at the table. We want to keep it going, and we'll just see where it goes from here.
ERIC JANSEN: Northwest says pilots intransigence is responsible for the labor talks impasse. Spokesman John Austin says the pilots won't back down from their demand for industry leading pay.
JOHN AUSTIN: They have said, without change over the two years, that they need to leapfrog the industry on pay. We have said with hopefully equal fervor that we can't afford to pay those rates.
ERIC JANSEN: Former vice president, Walter Mondale, who sits on Northwest Airlines board of directors, says there's not much he can do at this point to help end the strike.
WALTER MONDALE: I want this strike settled. I want people back to work, and I want Northwest Airlines growing and prospering. And as a member of that board, I'll do what I can to be of help. Right now however, I don't see at this moment quite what more I could do.
ERIC JANSEN: Because of the furlough of nearly 28,000 employees, Northwest says it will take 8 to 10 days after a settlement is reached for flights to resume. I'm Eric Jansen, Minnesota Public Radio.