BY MARY MARTIN
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Two hundred unionists who work at Northwest Airlines in Minneapolis held a rally May 22 in nearby Ft. Snelling, Minnesota, with a demand that was emblazoned on the red T-shirts many of them wore: "We want a decent contract -Now!"

On the same day at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, 100 Northwest pilots, flight attendants, and workers organized in the International Association of Machinists (IAM) set up informational picket lines to win public support for their contract fight.

Meanwhile, at the Los Angeles International Airport, 150 IAM members joined by pilots, flight attendants, and a few workers from other airlines conducted a day-long informational picket line. The Machinists estimate they reached 2,000 passengers and other airline workers with leaflets in Spanish and English and discussions to explain to the public the massive concession workers gave Northwest in the 1993 contract and their insistence today on a pay raise.

These three actions and at least one smaller informational picket at the Northwest terminal in Atlanta are examples of the stepped-up union activities by IAM and other union members at Northwest Airlines, who after 20 months of government-mediated negotiations find themselves no closer to a new contract with a wage raise than they have been for nearly 10 years.

The IAM's Strike Readiness Committee held a meeting in Minneapolis May 12 with representatives from the 10 largest IAM locals at Northwest to discuss strike preparations and nationally coordinated informational picketing at Northwest's terminals such as the May 22 actions.

Steve Kelton, president of IAM Local 2785, which organized the informational picketing in Los Angeles, said, "We need more of this.... The IAM is projecting informational picket lines system wide in every Northwest station possible on June 12.

Unionists at the Ft. Snelling rally chanted "Contract, Contract, Contract" and "Strike, Strike, Strike," as well as "Retro, Retro, Retro," referring to the demand for an improved pension with retroactive pay for the period since the IAM's contract expired in October 1996. The featured speaker was AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard Trumka.

At the Los Angeles picket, Armando Soto told the Militant, "We should have pickets once a week and stick together so management will see we are not joking." Joyce Harder, an IAM member and aircraft cleaner, said, "It's about time we pulled together and we got stronger through this picket.

In nearly 10 years, Northwest workers received only one raise of 1.5-3 percent while giving $897 million in concessions to the airline in the 1993 contract.

Contract negotiations grind on
The protest actions come after a month-long stall in the federal government-mediated talks between the IAM and Northwest Airlines. Talks resumed May 13-15, only to recess again until May 27.

Ricco Maniago, an Northwest ramp worker at Washington National Airport and member of IAM Local 1759, reported, "Workers at the other airlines are asking me what is going on with our contract. When we took concessions in 1993, the very next year United and other airlines followed with concessions from their workers. So what happens now is important because if we win a good contract the other unionized people in the big airlines will win too. Or the other way: if we lose out and the company gets its way, these other big companies will want whatever Northwest got from us."

None of the five other unions that represent Northwest employees, including the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) and the Teamsters Union, which organizes flight attendants, have reached a contract agreement with the company.

Northwest bosses are asking pilots for a 10 percent pay cut for those who fly the company's narrow-body planes, the majority of its fleet, as well as work rule changes that would eliminate hundreds of pilot jobs, ALPA reports.

Resistance and retaliation
Northwest bosses continue to retaliate against workers who are carrying out defensive measures such as "working safe" -adhering closely to all safety rules - and refusing to volunteer for overtime for safety reasons. Refusing the overtime is also a way not to help the company solve its problems of chronic staff shortages due to the bosses' refusal to hire enough full-time workers.

The day of the informational picketing in Los Angeles, the company forced several unionists to work overtime, preventing them from participating in the action. The bosses also issued a bulletin that day prohibiting workers from wearing the union buttons that raise contract issues.

According to a report in the May 13 St. Paul Pioneer Press, a ninth Machinist union member was fired in Minneapolis, supposedly for " harassment" of another employee. The fired worker allegedly took issue with another worker's decision to volunteer for overtime. The report also stated that Northwest has threatened to lay off 40 mechanics at its Duluth, Minnesota, maintenance base unless their productivity increased.

Wall Street misgivings
Northwest's May 1 "employee newspaper" boasted making $71 million in the first quarter of 1998 and reported that the company's first-quarter earnings had more than tripled in the 1994-98 period. Nonetheless, confidence in Northwest among businessmen has dipped. Northwest's stock rating was downgraded from "strong buy" to "buy" by Bankers Trust-Alex Brown, and CS First Boston lowered its stock rating for Northwest from "buy" to "hold." The analysts predict Northwest's "labor problems" will cost the company $19 million dollars.

Crain's Detroit Business editorialized against Northwest Airlines on May 4 under a headline "Some people just don't get it" -a takeoff on Northwest's slogan, "Some people just know how to fly." Crain's complained that Northwest's near- monopoly on air travel in the Midwest means they feel no pressure to settle their contract dispute with the unions. "After nearly a month of canceled flights and stranded travelers, Northwest still hasn't been able to [resolve the labor dispute]."

Mary Martin is a member of IAM Local 1759 and works on the ramp at Northwest in Washington, D.C. Mark Friedman, a ramp worker and member of IAM Local 2785 in Los Angeles; Joe Callahan, a member of United Auto Workers (UAW) in the Twin Cities; Jeff Jones, a cleaner at Northwest in Minneapolis; and Holly Harkness and John Sarge, members of UAW in Detroit, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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