Northwest Airlines Inc. on Thursday raised the price for its union mechanics to keep their jobs with the nation's fourth-largest carrier.
In their first negotiations since the mechanics went on strike three weeks ago, Northwest raised its demands from $176 million to more than $200 million in annual cuts.
The airline's new proposal Thursday includes a 28 percent pay cut and cutting about 75 percent of the workforce, leaving about 1,020 mechanics to staff Northwest's operations in Detroit, Minneapolis and Duluth, Minn., said Bob Rose, president of Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association Local 5.
"It's ridiculous. How can you have 75 percent of the people vote themselves out of a job?" Rose asked.
The two sides met between about 1:30 and 2 p.m. Central time, said AMFA negotiator Jeff Mathews. AMFA, he said, asked Northwest to put some of the issues they discussed in writing. The two sides met again Thursday night in Minneapolis, with the talks ending late Thursday. They're scheduled to resume today.
"We continue to talk with the National Mediation Board and AMFA," said Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch.
The previous round of talks broke off Aug. 19, prompting the union's 4,400 mechanics to walk off the job and the airline to hire replacement workers.
Northwest, Detroit Metro Airport's dominant airline, carries more than 60% of the passengers who depart from Metro. Northwest employs about 8,600 people based at Metro Airport, including 964 striking union mechanics.
The mechanics union went on strike after rejecting a contract that would have cut $176 million by eliminating 2,000 union jobs and cutting pay by 25 percent. The new talks started days after Northwest told the union that its last offer was too generous considering the airline's latest financial troubles.
High fuel prices, pumped even higher by Hurricane Katrina, likely will make Northwest raise its demand for $1.1 billion in annual concessions from its unions, according to a letter Northwest sent to AMFA on Tuesday.
"Given the rapidly changing environment in which we must compete, the company now needs to adopt a permanent solution for this segment of its workforce in a long-term effort to secure the future of the airline and its employees," Julie Hagen Showers, Northwest's vice president of labor relations, wrote to AMFA's National Director O.V. Delle-Femine.
In the letter, Northwest said it plans to start permanently replacing striking mechanics Tuesday.
