Fri, Mar 30, 2007
Union's Last Possible Option Is US Supreme Court
In another in a series of legal
setbacks for flight attendants at Northwest Airlines, a federal
appeals court Thursday upheld a lower court ruling, stating flight
attendants cannot legally strike the bankrupt carrier to protest
cuts in pay and benefits.
"Although this is a complicated case, one feature is simple
enough to describe: Northwest's flight attendants have proven
intransigent in the face of Northwest's manifest need to
reorganize," said the three-judge panel of the US 2nd Circuit Court
of Appeals, according to Bloomberg News.
As Aero-News reported, New
York Federal District Court Judge Victor Marrero ruled last
September Northwest’s flight attendants did not have the
right to strike, due to the crippling impact such an event
would have on the carrier. With that ruling, the union lost an
important bargaining tool in its efforts to overturn the
contract imposed on the FAs in August 2006.
Association of Flight Attendants spokesman Ricky Thorton said
the union was "very surprised" by the latest court decision, and
was debating whether to appeal the decision to the US Supreme
Court.
The AFA wants the National Mediation Board -- the federal body
now overseeing the labor dispute -- to release the union from talks
with Northwest. Such a decision would trigger a 30-day countdown to
a possible strike, as per federal guidelines.
Representatives with both sides haven't met since February 2,
and there are no indications either side will return to the
bargaining table anytime soon.
"For airline unions, this is a big setback," said Air Transport
Association attorney John Gallagher on the ruling.
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