Northwest to lay off 150 mechanics MINNEAPOLIS (AP) =97 Northwest Airlines plans to furlough about 150= mechanics=20 due to the decline in Asian-Pacific travel caused by the SARS epidemic, a=20 spokesman said Wednesday. Spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said the airline notified= =20 the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association on Tuesday that it needed=20 about 700 fewer technicians because of its previously announced decision to= =20 temporarily park 16 Boeing 747s. However, Northwest at the same time is=20 opening three new maintenance lines at its Minneapolis-St. Paul base for=20 Boeing 757s and Airbus A320s, which will require around 550 employees, so=20 the net number of furloughs will be about 150, Ebenhoch said. Nearly all of= =20 the affected positions are in the Twin Cities, he said. In its notification= =20 to the mechanics' union, Northwest invoked the ``force majeure" clause of=20 its labor contract, which allows it to modify contract terms in the event=20 of a major unforeseen development. AMFA objected Tuesday, saying the SARS=20 situation doesn't justify the furloughs and that no other airline has=20 invoked force majeure because of SARS. The union said it was considering=20 what action to take. "We consider this a clear violation of our contract=20 terms," said Jeff Matthews, AMFA's contract coordinator for Northwest. "...= =20 This has little to do with SARS and a lot to do with Northwest's desire to= =20 cut costs by circumventing its contract obligations." Ebenhoch said all airlines serving the Asia-Pacific region have been hurt=20 by SARS. "We communicated to all of our unions some time ago that we=20 believe SARS is a force majeure event, and that it is having a significant= =20 impact on Northwest," he said. He noted that Northwest reported earlier=20 that its May traffic on Asia-Pacific routes was down 26 percent from a year= =20 earlier due to fears of SARS, and that it reduced capacity on those routes= =20 by 13 percent to help narrow the gap by substituting smaller planes and=20 cutting some flights. Ebenhoch also noted that Northwest announced in March= =20 it expected to cut about 2,000 mechanics' jobs as part of 4,900 layoffs=20 worldwide, or 11 percent of its work force, due to the war in Iraq. The=20 actual number turned out to be 1,685, so even with the 150 new furloughs=20 the total is still 165 below the original estimate, he said. *************************************************** 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/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.carib-link.net/naparima/naps.html TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************