News Comes As ALPA, PFAA Agree To Concessions
It's a case of
one step forward, two steps back for Northwest Airlines: just
as the carrier announced Monday it had reached deals with two
unions key to the carrier's plan to put aside its labor woes, the
remaining holdout reported things are worse than ever when it comes
to the carrier's safety and maintenance record since the union went
on strike in mid-August.
The Air Line Pilots Association reached an agreement with
Northwest, taking temporary pay cuts and other cost reductions to
the tune of $215 million a year, while the Professional Flight
Attendants Association agreed to cuts of $117 million.
Northwest can't celebrate just yet, though, as the Aircraft
Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) said Monday two union
members who crossed picket lines during the current strike, have
left the company again over maintenance safety issues -- and
they're being quite vocal about it.
"Two former strikebreakers who quit their jobs at Northwest just
within the past week told me that maintenance practices there are
still in such disarray that the situation raises serious safety
concerns they were unwilling to tolerate," said AMFA National
Safety and Standards Director John Glynn.
"Soon after they decided to cross the picket lines and return to
work, they were assigned to find tools to build up carbon seals on
gearboxes and were alarmed by what they saw," Glynn told the
Memphis Business Journal.
"There were incompletely
installed engines in the shop with parts hanging from them, which
in itself is not alarming, but there was no paperwork anywhere to
document what was supposed to be happening with the engines... [a
manager] said some were going onto live aircraft and others back to
the leasing company for major overhaul or disposal, but there was
no paperwork to identify which was which," said Glynn. "In addition
to that, the right tools for the jobs they were assigned were
unavailable."
Glynn said he alerted the FAA inspector to the situation. He
also said a replacement worker had expressed concern to one of the
strikebreakers about the lack of proper tools and equipment.
The US Department of Transportation is conducting an
investigation into the maintenance issues and concerns, based on
allegations that started at nearly the moment the strike began on
August 20. As was reported in Aero-News,
several incidences of concern have been noted by FAA
inspectors.
The FAA is also conducting an investigation of their own based
the allegations.
"I wish the FAA also ranked airlines on maintenance safety, so
the public would know what's been going on," Glynn said.
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