Teamsters to boycott meetings with Northwest on labor cost cuts
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) =97 The Teamsters union says it will boycott future=
meetings=20
with Northwest Airlines executives about the carrier's business plan and=20
proposed labor cost cuts. "We're not going to be pushed into something.=20
We're not going to be rushed," said Mollie Reiley, trustee of Teamsters=20
Local 2000, which represents about 11,000 Northwest flight attendants.
"We've got a contract. It's in place and it's not amendable until June of=20
2005," she said. Reiley made her comments Tuesday after the first of three=
=20
meetings called by the company to make its financial case for cuts in labor=
=20
costs, and on the same day the breakaway Professional Flight Attendants=20
Association filed papers with the National Mediation Board to replace the=20
Teamsters as the union for Northwest flight attendants. Reiley said her=20
members already have made sacrifices, adding that 1,130 flight attendants=20
have been laid off and those still employed started paying for 20% of their=
=20
health care premiums in January.
The Eagan-based carrier used a similar meeting format with the Northwest=20
branch of the Air Line Pilots Association. Last month, the executives asked=
=20
the pilots for $2.76 billion in labor cost cuts over 6{ years. In addition=
=20
to a 17.4% pay cut, the company wants to lay off an additional 343 pilots.=
=20
Reiley said Tuesday that the ALPA has agreed to share some information with=
=20
the flight attendants. The ALPA is paying for an independent financial=20
analysis of Northwest and received a preliminary report in Memphis on=20
Tuesday during a quarterly meeting of its union leadership. "We're not=20
going to sit here ignorant," Reiley said.
Reiley and other union leaders have been critical of Northwest management=20
for requesting cuts from its labor unions while not making similar cuts in=
=20
their own compensation. In the case of flight attendants, Reiley said, some=
=20
"are taking home a little over $20,000 (a year) and paying about $200 a=20
month for health care."
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