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Friday, July 21, 2006
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Tough talk Pilots union chief defiant in Mesaba showdown By JOSHUA FREED AP Business Writer BLOOMINGTON - The head of the nation's largest pilots union set up a potential legal showdown over Mesaba Airlines on Thursday, saying he'd prefer liquidation of the Northwest Airlines feeder over accepting a contract approved by a bankruptcy judge.
Air Line Pilots Association President Duane Woerth vowed a strike that could kill Mesaba if it imposes a new contract on pilots - even though a judge has given the airline permission to do so. And he said he won't sign a contract that includes similar terms, even if Mesaba's 730 active pilots approve it.
If Mesaba "wants to keep the company alive, they're going to have to meet my terms," he said.
Sievek's take
Steve Sievek, manager of the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport, said Thursday he's optimistic there will always be air service in Brainerd, despite the turmoil at Mesaba Airlines, a regional carrier that serves Brainerd and other outstate cities.
"I'm hopeful there will always be service in Brainerd," said Sievek. "Who's going to provide it is up in the air."
Sievek was surprised to hear that Duane Woerth, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, said he won't sign a new contract for pilots approved by a bankruptcy judge even if Mesaba's pilots approve it.
"It's an interesting perspective," Sievek said in reaction to Woerth's statements. "It's pretty hard to think a union leader would refuse to sign a contract if the people he represents votes for it. I thought he worked for them. I don't know what's going to happen with this whole mess but the whole thing is unfortunate."
Sievek said there is a lot of uncertainty amongst Mesaba Airlines employees working out of the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport.
"They don't know what their future is," said Sievek. "You can feel it. It's bound to happen. I'm not suggesting we're not getting good service. Overall I think it's become a morale issue in the whole company." - Jodie Tweed, staff writer
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Mesaba provides the only air service in many of the 98 cities it flies to, mostly in the Midwest. Its fleet once included about 100 planes, including some small jets, but Northwest is reducing it to 49 prop-driven Saabs that seat up to 34 passengers by the end of this year.
Woerth's threat was the strongest yet from any of the unions fighting Mesaba's demands for major pay cuts. Mesaba has said it needs the concessions if it is to keep flying for Northwest, its only customer.
Strike threats have been common from pilots and other unions at bankrupt airlines. But this was the first time in any of the recent bankruptcies that Woerth has inserted himself so directly into the negotiations between an airline and its pilots.
Woerth said that's because the pay cuts negotiated at airlines such as bankrupt United Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. left those pilots with enough to live on. At Mesaba, the union said a new first officer - the lowest-ranked, lowest-paid pilot at the airline - would make $16,417 a year under the company's proposal, down from $19,337 under the current contract.
"They know they can't live on this anyway," Woerth said. "And worse, they know what they'd be doing to their brother and sister pilots across the country." He said other regional carriers would aim for similar terms if Mesaba succeeds.
"If we don't fight it out here, we will never be safe in this industry. We might as well fight it out here," he said.
Mesaba, a unit of MAIR Holdings Inc., has won permission from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gregory Kishel to impose a new contract on pilots, flight attendants and mechanics if it gives 10 days notice first. Mesaba has not started that clock ticking, and talks continued on Thursday.
Flight attendants and mechanics have raised the possibility of a strike as well.
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