Flight attendants at Northwest Airlines Corp. said they will delay a threatened strike by 10 days because of security concerns stemming from the foiled terrorist plot in London, and a shareholder dropped his suit against executives at the company.
A judge had not yet ruled on a request to block a strike from the carrier, which is in bankruptcy protection.
The Association of Flight Attendants had threatened to begin random, unannounced strikes after 9:01 p.m. CDT on Tuesday after Northwest imposed new pay and work rules on flight attendants without their consent. Flight attendants twice voted down negotiated agreements with the nation's fifth-largest airline.
But on Friday, flight attendants said the new deadline would be 9:01 p.m. CDT Aug. 25. It calls its strike tactic "CHAOS," for Create Havoc Around Our System.
"Present security concerns take precedence over all other concerns at this time, including our fight for a fair contract and our preparations for CHAOS," said Mollie Reiley, interim master executive council president of the union's Northwest branch.
"In order to devote our full attention to the immediate security situation, and to reduce the stress level for flight attendants until the initial reaction of the security news subsides, we have decided to extend our strike deadline by 10 days," she said.
Northwest has said it is willing to negotiate again with flight attendants, although it said any deal would still have to meet a goal of $195 million a year in labor savings. No talks have been scheduled.
The carrier has maintained that any strike would be illegal and had asked bankruptcy judge Allan Gropper to block one.
"The AFA and Northwest flight attendants recognized that, during this period of heightened security, the needs of our customers are paramount," Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said.
Separately, a shareholder who had sued four top officials at Northwest Airlines Corp. after it filed for bankruptcy protection has dropped the case, the airline said on Friday.
Court papers dismissing the lawsuit didn't give a reason.
Attorney Steven G. Schulman, who filed the case Dec. 20, and his firm Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman have been indicted in California on charges of secretly paying kickbacks to attract plaintiffs for shareholder lawsuits against large companies. Schulman and the firm have both pleaded not guilty, and Schulman is now on leave.
Milberg Weiss attorney Peter Seidman, who filed to dismiss the case on Thursday, declined to comment. No phone listing could be found for plaintiff Bernard J. Gesenhues.
The lawsuit, which sought class-action status, had accused Northwest insiders of selling stock when they had nonpublic information about the airline's bankruptcy plans. Northwest filed for Chapter 11 protection in September 2005.
Northwest had not filed any response to the lawsuit, which was brought in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. It was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be re-filed.
"We are pleased that the suit was dismissed," Northwest spokesman Bill Mellon said.
News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.
