You Know The Drill...

Calling it "harsh and overreaching," on Tuesday flight attendants at bankrupt Northwest Airlines rejected a tentative agreement that, if approved, would have saved the airline $195 million annually. That rejection means that... once again... an airline is expected to go before a US bankruptcy court for permission to void a current contract with workers.

In a statement released by the Professional Flight Attendants Association Tuesday, the flight attendants union reaffirmed its threat to strike if that happens.

"We continue to urge the judge to deny NWA's application to reject our contract," PFAA President Guy Meek said. "The carrier's proposals are harsh and overreaching. They are misguided attempts by NWA management."

Northwest maintains such a strike by the PFAA would be illegal, and is expected to ask the court to prevent it.

The rejection of the flight attendant's contract is the latest in a long series of air pockets on Northwest's route to exist bankruptcy... and each day Northwest operates under the old contract, the airline is spending money Northwest says it simply doesn't have.

"We are asking the court for a speedy ruling on our contract abrogation request because the airline's losses are continuing," said Mike Becker, senior vice president of human resources and labor relations at Northwest, to Reuters.

The tentative agreement, reached May 1, was soundly defeated by more than 80 percent of an estimated 9,000 flight attendants at Northwest, according to the PFAA.

"The bankruptcies at NWA, Delta, United, USAirways and America West eroded the foundation of the Flight Attendant profession," Meek added. "PFAA has drawn the line in the sand and intends to turn this disturbing trend around."

As part of its strategy, PFAA launched a "four-prong corporate campaign" aimed at, among other things, highlighting any cash and stock looting at Northwest; elevating PFAA's "Airline Bill of Rights" project to a national stage; and appointing a team of members and professionals to communicate with Wall Street investors, and the overall financial community, about what the union terms "the truth at NWA."

Over the next month, the PFAA will also conduct a vote to end the union's affiliation with the national Transport Workers Union of America, as well as voting to reject a hostile raid by another union, the Association of Flight Attendants-Communication Workers of America.

Despite the setback, however, one analyst maintains the rejected contract is merely a temporary misstep on Northwest's path to financial solvency.

"It's a bump in the road," said Michael Boyd. "They'll go back the bargaining table. Northwest has a clear plan. They're not fumbling around, they know what they have to do."

FMI: www.nwa.com, www.pfaa.com