Northwest Airlines Corp. is warning flight attendants that they won't get a better deal if they reject the wage-cutting pact they're voting on now.
Flight attendants are voting through June 6 on whether to accept a tentative agreement that would cut their pay 21 percent and require them to work longer hours. It would save Northwest $195 million a year.
Baggage handlers and ramp workers rejected their own pay-cut offer from Northwest, forcing the Eagan-based airline back to the bargaining table. And flight attendants will vote later this summer on whether to switch unions. Those two events may have some flight attendants hoping they can get a better deal.
The airline said that won't happen.
Northwest "does not have the luxury of returning to the bargaining table" if the contract is rejected, the airline wrote in a letter to flight attendants on Friday. "The implementation of labor cost reductions must begin immediately."
If flight attendants reject the contract, Northwest said it would assign 30 percent of international flying to foreigners - an idea that enraged flight attendants when Northwest proposed it last year. The airline also said it would drop an offer to pay severance of up to $27,000 and reduce or eliminate labor protections in case of a merger.
Northwest said in its letter that it was trying to provide "complete and accurate information as you carefully consider the alternatives."
But Guy Meek, president of the Professional Flight Attendants Association, wrote his own letter, blasting Northwest's letter as "a blatant scare tactic meant to intimidate our members."
"Be confident that PFAA will not stand by and allow you to break the law by way of a unilateral abrogation," he wrote.
PFAA leaders have made no recommendation on how members should vote.
The contract vote comes at a tumultuous time for Northwest flight attendants. They will vote June 8 through July 6 on whether to drop the independent PFAA and join the larger Association of Flight Attendants. And they are also due to vote this summer on whether to have PFAA become a local of the Transport Workers Union.
Bankruptcy law requires a trial to decide whether a debtor can reject a union contract. For flight attendants, that trial took place earlier this year, but the judge never ruled because the tentative agreement was reached instead.
But baggage handlers and ramp workers agreed to vote on Northwest's offer, forestalling their trial. They rejected it on March 7, prompting Northwest to return to court so it could reject their contract with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The IAM represents the 5,600 workers who rejected Northwest's offer as well as several thousand other Northwest workers.
Testimony continued in New York on Tuesday for the second day of that trial.
Northwest remains at odds with the IAM over three main issues: pension plans, severance payments and higher compensation, either in a wage increase or lump-sum payment.
The union has authorized a strike if Northwest is allowed to impose its terms. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Allan Gropper said he is hopeful the two sides reach an agreement on their own.
On Tuesday, an expert witness for the union provided more details about talks with the airline and held out hope that a settlement could be reached.
"There are continuing efforts to close the gap on those points" that separate the company and the union, said Tom Roth, president of a labor consulting firm called Labor Bureau Inc. "There is room for a consensual deal here."
The trial recessed until Friday morning, when final arguments are expected. Northwest spokesman Bill Mellon said no more "formal discussions" are scheduled until then.
"Northwest continues to prefer a consensual agreement to potential abrogation of its unratified IAM agreements; however, it must also ensure that the necessary labor cost reductions are achieved as expeditiously as possible," he said.
AP Business Writer Seth Sutel in New York contributed to this report.
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