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Ron Adams, 43, a Northwest mechanic for 17 years, strikes at the picket line. He estimates it will cost him about $900 a month for health insurance for his family that includes three children.Turbulence at Northwest
Airline terminates strikers' insurance
Union mechanics and aircraft cleaners will have to pay the full premium to keep health coverage.
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Health insurance is "a necessary evil of life," says John Kaplin, 52, a striking mechanic who will pay $709.62 a month for insurance.
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ROMULUS -- Striking Northwest Airlines' mechanics and aircraft cleaners entering the 11th day of picketing face a one-two punch this week with the carrier canceling their medical insurance and issuing their last paycheck -- half the normal amount.
The 4,430 members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association will face the choice of paying 100 percent of the Northwest insurance premium, finding their own insurance or going without it.
Northwest medical insurance can range from $400 a month for a single person to more than $1,000 for a family plan with various optional benefits. The medical insurance will hit striking mechanics especially hard since AMFA does not have a strike fund.
AMFA leaders said Monday the economic hardships won't chip away at the union's resolve to prevail in the first major airline strike since 1998.
But some workers are clearly concerned that the union has been unable to force Northwest back to the negotiating table.
John Kaplin, 52, a Northwest mechanic in Detroit for 19 years, said he will protest for one month. After that, he'll look for another job. "A lot of us still hold a little bit of hope that something could be resolved," he said.
In the meantime, he has filled out the paperwork to pick up his insurance premium at a cost of $709.62 a month.
"It's a necessary evil of life," Kaplin said. "The day you go without it is the day you need it."
Others have no choice but to pay the insurance premium. George Maul, a 19-year mechanic at Northwest, has a heart blockage that requires $500 in medicine a month, not including other health care costs.
"If you want to carry insurance while you're on strike, you have to pay the full premium," said Maul, who has no dependants and will have to pay $475 a month for the policy. "I'm going to do it until I can find somewhere else to work. It's very obvious, we're not coming back to work here."
Striking workers qualify for medical insurance under COBRA, a federal program that guarantees displaced workers can continue the same coverage for up to 18 months if they pay the full premium.
All the striking AMFA workers received the COBRA package over the weekend informing them their medical coverage would stop on Wednesday. The news didn't come as a shock to most striking workers. Union leaders had warned it might happen for the past few months.
Some workers say they can't afford the high premiums, especially since they will receive their final paycheck on Friday. The paycheck will be a little light, because it only covers the week leading up to the strike, not the normal two week period.
Brian Boroski, a striking aircraft cleaner, said he is a relatively healthy person and is going to take the risk of going without insurance.
"I'm going to do what I got to do to survive," said Boroski, a 17-year employee of Northwest. "I'm going to conserve as much as I can."
He said he plans to remain on the picket line as long as it takes to win a new fair contract.
But the strike is wearing down Esther Conway, 54, a cleaner from Memphis, Tenn.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't depressed," she said, walking the picket line in front of the Northwest Terminal on Monday afternoon.
It's especially hard to be staying in the same hotel as many of the replacement workers, she said.
Steve MacFarlane, the assistant nation director of AMFA, said Monday he is going to seek cheaper insurance with a high deductible from another company until the strike is over. He said that most of the strikers have access to funds from 401(k) programs, equity in their homes or personal bank accounts they can tap into if necessary. But he said that most won't have to do that.
"This is going to be over in a couple of weeks or months," MacFarlane said. "It certainly won't be years. Maybe Northwest has gotten us off the property, but I don't think they have stabilized their business. We're prepared to last as long as it takes."
Northwest, who has been using 1,200 replacement workers and third-party vendors since AMFA walked off the job on Aug. 20, maintains its operation is running smoothly. AMFA workers went on strike after they refused to accept $176 million in concessions and 2,000 jobs cuts as part of an overt plan to save the carrier $1.1 billion. Northwest, which has lost $3.6 billion since 2001, maintains it needs the cutbacks to avoid bankruptcy.
It was a little bumpy on Monday for Northwest, but it didn't have anything to do with the strikers. Northwest was forced to cancel 35 flights and 45 Northwest Airlink flights to 12 destinations in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida because of hurricane Katrina.
So far, the union said that only two AMFA members, one in Milwaukee and another in Minneapolis, have crossed the picket line.
"The probability is that we will have a handful of guys cross the picket lines if this drags on," MacFarlane said. "But Northwest would need hundreds. That simply won't happen."
AMFA co-founder and national director O.V. Delle-Femine visited picketers Monday at Detroit Metro Airport to boost spirits.
"In a couple weeks, people are going to see the failure of this airline," Delle-Femine told strikers gathering at a nearby United Auto Workers union hall before heading to picket lines.
You can reach Joel J. Smith at (313) 222-2556 or jsmith@detnews.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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