Northwest Airlines Strike: Fill-in mechanics in uneasy position

Aug. 31, 2005
Far from their families, detested by peers, the replacement workers are there because the work is.

They are experienced mechanics laid off from jobs after 9/11 crippled the airline industry.

They are far from their families, detested by peers and by the very unions they belonged to before losing their own jobs as airline mechanics for such airlines as United, US Airways and Delta.

They're living indefinitely in hotel rooms at Dearborn's Hyatt Regency, with limited possibilities for social interaction. They spend time at the lobby's bar, coffee shop, the mall across the street, or in their own bedrooms.

Still, hundreds of workers are willing to take such jobs, crossing picket lines and making it possible for Northwest Airlines Inc., the country's fourth largest, to operate largely uninterrupted and with little reason to return to the bargaining table.

Workers have identified themselves as flying in from Minneapolis, Duluth, MN, and the Carolinas.

"It sucks being away from home, I'll tell you that," said a Minneapolis mechanic waiting for a bus provided by Northwest to take him and other replacement employees to work.

Most declined to say much. Workers have signed confidentiality agreements prohibiting them from speaking with reporters. But a thirtysomething aviation mechanic standing alone spoke on the condition of anonymity about what it is like to fill in for Northwest Airlines' striking mechanics.

He has worked for a private contractor since he was furloughed from an aviation job with a Michigan auto company in Ypsilanti shortly after 9/11. The mechanic insisted that he doesn't consider himself or his peers filling in for strikers as replacement workers because he was hired by a third party who contracted him to work for Northwest. In his view, that's different from a traditional replacement worker.

Desperate to find work, he now flies around the country from job to job, including one that came open during the Northwest strike. Most of his coworkers during the strike have similar arrangements, he said.

"This is an unusual job," he said, explaining that while the assignment is indefinite, he would like for it to end and for strikers to have their jobs back.

"We don't want to see anybody suffer," said the worker, who has more than 10 years' experience. "We want them to get a contract and we want to get out of here."

Asked if he minds the hostility with which he is regarded by striking workers, he responded, "It was their choice to walk out and it's my choice to take the job. I think they got screwed by their union and the union leadership."

He declined comment on whether he had a family, what he makes, or what he does for Northwest Airlines exactly.

When he's not at work, he sits in his hotel room surfing the Internet for his next assignment, he said.

"We all do our own thing," he said. "We're here to do a job."

Dearborn police say they haven't been called to the Hyatt since the strike but hotel workers who declined giving their names reported minor altercations at the hotel bar, between replacements and strikers. The hotel would not comment on anything regarding guests, including whether there was extra security.

Despite the relative calm, hostility is palpable.

Pictures of replacement workers are posted on the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association's Web site. On it, they ask strikers to send more pictures and to call the scabs they know and ask them what they're up to.

The Web site also included these words, originally penned by Jack London, the American writer, but this time referring to those crossing the picket line.

The Scab -- After God finished with the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, He had some awful substance left with which he made a scab. A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, the scab carries a tumor of rotten principles...

Observers say the stigma is one that workers are willing to live with to feed their families in the current economy.

"People are really hurting," said Michigan State University labor expert Ellen Kossek. "People do need jobs. It has less do to with sympathy to an employer and unions than with people needing to provide for their families."

"I do think that as the proportion of the U.S. population that is unionized shrinks, we have more individuals who did not grow up in union families. There was a pride in being a union worker, associated with a democratic way of life and standing up for the little worker."

But those actions are inexcusable, said Local 5 vice president Dennis Sutton.

"There's no excuse for what they're doing, especially in Detroit," he said.

Sutton, an aircraft mechanic with 16 years' experience, was offended by the worker's comment that the union leadership screwed workers.

"On the last day of bargaining we offered a 20 percent pay cut and loss of jobs of between 1,100 and 1,300," said Sutton. "The company said no thank you. The enemy is the company."

Northwest's 4,400 mechanics and plane cleaners went on strike Aug. 20 after Northwest demanded eliminating nearly half of their jobs and imposed a 25% pay cut on those who remained.

About 1,200 replacement workers, 350 managers and 400 mechanics from outside companies replaced 4,400 Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association mechanics and cleaners, said Northwest Airlines spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch. Talks have not resumed since workers went on strike.

Northwest declined to provide any specifics on the replacement workers, including what hours they're working, how much they're paying workers, who's picking up the tab for local accommodations, or trips home to visit family. The company wouldn't say if any replacement workers had quit or if there were plans to hire them permanently.

By AMFA's count, 263 replacement workers have quit since the strike began on Saturday, information they say they've gathered from the wives and friends of mechanics who are married to secretaries, flight attendants and gate agents.

Both Northwest Airlines and replacement workers have declined disclosing the name of private companies being used to hire replacement workers.Finding people to do the work has been relatively easy, Northwest officials say.

"Because of economic conditions, we have a big pool of qualified technicians," Ebenhoch said.

Replacement mechanics have an average of 14 years of experience on aircraft that's comparable to those used by Northwest. They are all licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration, Ebenhoch said.

Online advertisements give a clue to who the company might be and what Northwest is spending on workers.

An Internet advertisement for airline mechanics by recruiter AvTech USA promoted jobs at $32 an hour (more than $66,000 a year for a 40-hour week, not counting overtime, shift differentials or skill pay). The ad also promised travel, pay, housing bonuses and tools.

Before the strike, the base wage for a mechanic with five years' seniority was $30.89 an hour. The airline's last offer to union mechanics was $26.53.

The airline says it is prepared to operate using replacement workers indefinitely.