Northwest Union Rejects Agreement

Northwest Airlines Corp. flight attendants Tuesday rejected an agreement to reduce their pay by 21% and cut jobs, and the struggling carrier asked a bankruptcy judge to let it void the union's contract.

The Professional Flight Attendants Assn. threatened a strike if the judge allowed Northwest to impose new labor terms. Its members voted down the tentative package of concessions by 80% to 20%, union spokesman Andy Damis said.

Northwest is trying to cut labor costs by $1.4 billion a year as part of its plan to stem five years of losses and exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. An agreement with pilots to save $358 million was contingent upon other unions approving concessions.

The margin of defeat was "a bit startling," said Robert Mann, head of R.W. Mann & Co., a Port Washington, N.Y.-based consultant who works with both airlines and unions.

"As draconian as the terms are, they are quite consistent with what's going on in the industry, unfortunately," he said.

The tentative labor agreement was approved March 1 by negotiators for the airline and its 9,300 flight attendants. It would have saved Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest $195 million a year.

"The company went too far," union President Guy Meek said. In a recorded message to members, he issued the strike threat and said the union was prepared to "immediately return to negotiations" with Northwest.

Northwest said it needed a "quick resolution" of its planned labor-cost reductions because of continuing losses and higher jet fuel prices. The airline also asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper in New York for an injunction to block a possible strike by the attendants' union.

The judge held a hearing this year on Northwest's request to reject the union's contract, allowing the airline to reduce pay and benefits. Northwest and its attendants reached the tentative accord before Gropper ruled.

The judge probably will set a deadline for the two sides to negotiate a new agreement. The next scheduled hearing in Northwest's bankruptcy case is Thursday.

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