Decision Made Final After Three Weeks Of Deliberations

The courts have spoken... there will be no strike by flight attendants at Northwest Airlines, period. US District Court Judge Victor Marrero overturned an earlier bankruptcy court decision Friday, and granted Northwest's request for a preliminary injunction to prevent a threatened strike or work action by the company's flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA). 

"Judge Marrero's decision to grant Northwest the injunction allows our customers to continue to book Northwest Airlines with confidence, knowing that we will get them to their destinations reliably," said Northwest CEO Doug Steenland. "While the court decision is reassuring to our customers, we remain committed to negotiating a consensual agreement with our flight attendants. We hope to accomplish that goal in the near future."

As Aero-News reported last month, Marrero issued a temporary injunction August 25 against any work actions by the AFA after Northwest appealed Bankruptcy Court Judge Allan Gropper's denial of the company's request for a preliminary injunction. The ruling gave the District Court time to consider Northwest's appeal from Judge Gropper's ruling.

Upon review, Judge Marrero concluded that Judge Gropper had erred in denying Northwest's request for an injunction.

Northwest and the unions representing its flight attendants -- before the AFA, the Professional Flight Attendants Association represented flight attendants at Northwest -- have negotiated two tentative agreements. In July, flight attendants rejected a tentative contract agreement that Northwest had negotiated with AFA -- which, like the earlier agreement reached with Northwest by the PFAA, was endorsed by the union.

After the second TA was rejected, Northwest implemented contract terms and conditions for its flight attendants that met the required $195 million of annual labor cost savings for that group... as is allowed under bankruptcy protection. In response, the union threatened a series of random work stoppages... which were halted by Marrero's injunction.

While Judge Marrero's final ruling appears to leave the AFA with few options for forcing Northwest's hand in new contract negotiations, the union remained defiant. "We believe this decision is obviously an incorrect reading of the law and the rights of workers in the United States. We will appeal," said AFA general counsel David Borer.

"Management and the courts can gang up on us but they cannot defeat us," added Mollie Reiley, interim president of the Northwest flight attendants union.

FMI: www.nwa.com, www.nwaafa.org