After moving to keep a job, some Northwest mechanics face another pink slip EAGAN, Minn. (AP) =97 Mechanics working for Northwest Airlines are finding= =20 themselves in a game of musical chairs, moving from station to station as=20 the airline closes facilities and announces job cuts. Ed Sloan moved his=20 family to the Twin Cities in January to keep his job after the company=20 closed its maintenance facility in Atlanta late last year. Now Sloan, 37,=20 is awaiting another pink slip as Northwest lays off mechanics around the=20 system. Sloan is among an estimated 350 to 400 Northwest mechanics who=20 moved to the Twin Cities and Duluth from Atlanta, sometimes by bumping less= =20 senior mechanics at their new destinations. Mechanics interviewed by the=20 St. Paul Pioneer Press estimated that up to half of the Atlanta technicians= =20 who moved to Minnesota could lose their jobs in the latest round of 4,900=20 job cuts. That includes about 2,000 mechanics around the world. The Sloans,= =20 temporarily living in Eagan, sold their house in Georgia and are buying a=20 house in Lakeville. Sloan and his wife, Ana, have two small children. "It's= =20 like, here we go again," Sloan said. "Only this time it's a little scarier= =20 because we really don't know what to do next. I don't have anything to go=20 to this time." Mechanics say the mood in the hangars is tense, confused and laced with=20 dark humor. "There are a lot of guys this is hurting pretty badly," said=20 Charles Stewart, 39, who moved from Atlanta and whose job also is in=20 jeopardy. Stewart considers himself lucky because his wife and three=20 children haven't moved to the Twin Cities yet. And with 13 years at=20 Northwest, he has enough seniority that he likely can "bump" a less=20 experienced worker and keep his job. Under union rules, if a mechanic being= =20 laid off has more seniority than another, he can "bump" the junior mechanic= =20 and retain his pay level. Northwest mechanics earn $50,000 to $70,000 a=20 year. The junior mechanic can bump someone else, and so on down the line.=20 The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association Local 33 in Bloomington=20 accuses Northwest of abusing the process to squeeze out mechanics by=20 bumping them to facilities with an uncertain future. Jim Atkinson,=20 president of Local 33 and himself a mechanic who faces losing his job, has= =20 called it "a cynical game of musical chairs." The union says the recent job losses are related to Northwest's practice of= =20 farming out maintenance work on its airplanes to companies such as=20 Singapore Technologies Aerospace. Northwest could return that work in-house= =20 to save jobs, the union argues. Northwest won't discuss its maintenance=20 budget or outsourcing policy. Airlines, struggling to cut costs amid an=20 industry downturn, have argued it's cheaper and more efficient to work this= =20 way. The union worries the process will speed up now. Northwest last week=20 invoked clauses in its labor contracts releasing it from negotiated=20 agreements in cases of war. Northwest's labor contracts have no-layoff=20 clauses and stipulate that the airline can outsource up to 38% of its=20 annual maintenance budget. The union is fighting the company's invocation=20 of the war clause and the mechanics' job cuts. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************