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Error processing SSI fileLabor takes hit as solidarity splits
Aircraft cleaner Chris Racinski and his wife, Mary, find out his union is going out on strike.Union officials say Northwest's final offer to its striking mechanics and cleaners would:
• Set the mechanics' hourly base rate pay at $22.95. Before the strike, Northwest says it was $30.89.
• Set the mechanics' premium hourly rate pay, which doesn't include benefits or pensions, at $27.28. Before the strike, Northwest says it was $36.39.
• Delete all cleaner staffing requirements.
• Provide layoff protection for 2,750 members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, nearly 80 percent of its work force.
• Delete contract requirements requiring Northwest aircraft technicians to perform all scheduled line maintenance.
• Allow Northwest to use any company employee or vendor to perform mechanics' work.
• No longer allow mechanics to tow or taxi Northwest aircraft.
Source: Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association
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Northwest strike
How is the mechanics' strike against Northwest Airlines affecting you? Share your stories here.
Northwest cleaner Janice Walker talks with fellow striker Chris Dugas, a mechanic for 17 years.
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ROMULUS -- In a region synonymous with American unionism, striking mechanics at Northwest Airlines face a solitary fight against the world's fourth-largest airline.
Signaling changing times for an increasingly fragmented labor movement, a fiery group of sign-waving, slogan-shouting strikers found little support Saturday -- abandoned by fellow unions and largely ignored by travelers who passed by picket lines on their way to board Northwest flights.
Dozens of members from the maverick Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents mechanics and aircraft cleaners, walked picket lines, many of them feeling betrayed that none of Northwest's other unionized workers -- not its pilots, flight attendants or ground staff -- joined their fight. As strikers marched through the morning rain, hundreds of replacement workers slipped into the airport to work jobs some employees had held for more than 20 years.
"It's a slap in the face -- unions are supposed to stick together," said Janice Walker, an aircraft cleaner for Northwest from Newport who has been with the airline nearly nine years. "How can they just cross over a picket line like that?"
Without help from Northwest's three other major unions, the mechanics failed to hamper flights at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on the first day of their strike. Instead, strikers passed out fliers to travelers, taunted a crew fixing an airplane tire and held out hope that their absence would be felt in coming days. They shouted "Go home, scab" to replacement crews working in sight of the main picket area and yelled to passengers, "Northwest isn't safe to fly."
It's unlikely the union will succeed, analysts said Saturday. AMFA doesn't have the strength of unions past, some of whom battled and prevailed over the nation's largest and most powerful corporations. Walkouts in the 1980s and 1990s crippled Pan American World Airways and Eastern Airlines, halting service and forcing bankruptcies.
"In a city like Detroit, the idea of not coming to the aid of a union is something remarkable," said Gary Chaison, a professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. "It's very much a dark day for labor."
In many ways, the mechanics union's inability to take control of its dispute with Northwest can be traced to its fiery nature and characteristics unique to the aviation industry.
AMFA is a small and aggressive group that has shed with other unions and doesn't belong to the much larger AFL-CIO. It is operating in an industry that's been struggling since the September 11 attacks ripped into the profits of major airlines. Soaring fuel prices have worsened the situation, forcing airlines to make drastic cuts.
But the Northwest scenario may also be indicative of increased fragmentation and waning influence of organized labor. Union membership has dropped to about 13 percent of all U.S. workers, down from one-third in the 1950s.
"This does show the declining power of organized labor and the disarray that the movement in right now," Chaison said.
As unions split up to represent more specialized trades, they fray relations by poaching each other's members. In 1998, AMFA raided the International Association of Machinists, luring away mechanics and airplane cleaners to form their own Northwest unit.
"They're going to be crushed," said Ed Kovalick, a bag handler and IAM member. "They've disenfranchised themselves."
Solidarity is also weakening because unions are catering to more specific trades and needs among workers, said Michael Boyd, president of the Boyd Group aviation consultants in Evergreen, Colo.
"This specialization is going up against existing traditional labor movements," he said. "But these unions exist because there's a need for them. It's not all negative."
Wes Cooprider's situation reflects a complicated new reality for union workers.
The mechanic turned out at 6 a.m. Saturday to join his fellow strikers. His wife, a bag handler for Northwest, plans to cross Cooprider's picket line when she reports to work this week.
"She doesn't want to cross," he said, holding a stack of neon-green fliers that strikers were distributing. "She's fired if she doesn't. I told her, 'You've got to have a job.'"
Even more painful for many of the strikers: Friends and co-workers who don't support their cause.
"I can't believe everyone's out there working," Linda Hansen said as she watched workers buzz around planes parked in front of airport gates. "They should know that if Northwest can do this to a mechanics union, it can happen to any of these workers."
Hard feelings emerged among strikers circling one of the entrances at Midfield Terminal. They watched as a pair of mechanics replaced a tire, chiding them for taking too long. "You know that's an airplane, right?" one of the pickets joked.
Some strikers said they expect their careers with Northwest are over. They were striking Saturday because they didn't want to go out without a fight. Others were more hopeful and understanding of employees who didn't strike.
Dennis Hagen, who was posted by an employee entrance, waved to some workers as they reported to work.
"Most of us are friends with the workers inside," he said. "They'll lose their job if they don't go to work."
You can reach Sharon Terlep at (313) 223-4686 or sterlep@detnews.com.
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