NWA eyes Champion to help break strike
 

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The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal - 1:39 PM CDT Monday

NWA eyes charter line as strike contingency

Northwest Airlines Corp. is considering using a local charter carrier to fly some Northwest flights if its mechanics go on strike, according to media reports.

A spokesman for Bloomington-based Champion Air said the carrier has had discussions with Northwest about operating contingency flights, but no decision had been made.

A Northwest spokesman confirmed that the Eagan-based carrier is considering a variety of resources in case of a strike, including partnering with Champion.

Northwest's pilot union said an arrangement for the airline to use Champion planes and pilots would violate the union's contract with Northwest. The union said its contract allows Northwest to use Champion for charter flight, while any scheduled service flights would have to be flown by Northwest's pilots.

Members of Northwest's mechanics union voted last month to authorize a strike, which could begin as soon as a 30-day cooling-off period ends at 11:01 p.m. on Aug. 19.

Northwest (Nasdaq: NWAC), which has said it needs to reduce labor costs by at least $1.1 billion to avert bankruptcy, has asked the mechanics union to accept job and pay cuts.

Would you expect any less for NWA at this point? This one of the most overtly anti-labor managments in the industry right now (of course why mess with their legacy!).

Whip-sawing two ALPA pilot groups is to expected, although I think it's only effective at creating headlines and ****ing-off pilots. Champion, with 16 727-200's, is going to fall a little short with their available capacity to really make a dent in NWA's route network. Is Champion going to abandon all of their other contracts? I doubt it, so how many aircraft will be flying in service of NWA?

With any luck the two MEC's will find common ground (as that continued silence is Duane Worth).

we call him duane woerth-less around our house. i think he single-handedly has caused about 40% of alpa pilots to wonder what we are spending our 2% per month for.

i lost what little respect i had for him when he came to houston to sign off on the "partnership accord" between CAL and the pilots. the ass-raping since then has been unbelieveable. since that day, our mec and national has stood by with it's collective thumb up it's ass. we didn't, haven't, and won't issue a press release supporting the FA's for their stand against management while trying to get a decent contract. i could go on but... why? it's sick.