Mechanics decide to throw in towel against Northwest =0A15-month strike end= s with severance.=0A=0AMcClatchy Newspapers =0APublished Tuesday, November = 7, 2006 =0AMINNEAPOLIS - The 15-month mechanics strike at Northwest Airline= s finally ended yesterday, and labor analysts said the conflict provided pa= inful lessons about the dangers an independent union runs in striking a com= pany with an arsenal of replacement workers at the ready. =0AMore than 72 p= ercent of striking members voted to end the strike, approving a deal that p= rovides 10 weeks of separation pay for those who resign and leave Northwest= . The agreement also includes five weeks of severance pay for strikers who = accept being put on layoff while retaining recall rights for job openings a= t the airline. =0ANorthwest=A2s permanent replacement workers will remain. = =0AThe ratified deal "allows our members to move on, whether their future i= nvolves Northwest Airlines or not," Jeff Mathews, contract coordinator for = the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, said yesterday. =0AUnion lead= ers did not second-guess their decision to take their membership out on str= ike in August 2005. "We went on strike for jobs," Mathews said. "No self-re= specting man or woman would have accepted Northwest Airlines=A2 terms witho= ut a fight." =0AAMFA=A2s membership, however, has been dramatically thinned= . In May 2001, when AMFA leaders reached their last contract with Northwest= , the union represented 9,795 mechanics, cleaners and custodians at Northwe= st. =0ABy the start of the strike, Northwest=A2s AMFA membership had dwindl= ed to 4,100. =0AAt that time, Northwest wanted to keep just 2,750 AMFA jobs= and have those workers take a 25 percent pay cut. =0AThere are now 880 mec= hanics on Northwest=A2s payroll, including about 600 who crossed picket lin= es or returned to Northwest after being furloughed before the strike. The a= irline has increased its use of outsourcing for maintenance work. =0ABill B= ailey, a mechanic from Duluth, Minn., was among the =A1yes=A2 voters who de= cided to end the strike. "Northwest showed that they can stomp on people an= d get away with it," said Bailey, a former local union president. "I=A2m ju= st going to take whatever I can get. I=A2m never going to go back to work f= or them anyway." =0AThomas Lutz, a mechanic from Richfield, Minn., called t= he deal "an abomination." He is upset with AMFA leaders. "It=A2s unfortunat= e that I destroyed a 17-year career" at Northwest "to support the efforts o= f this disappointing union," Lutz said. =0AThe 444-day strike, halted after= the deal was approved 1,511 to 583, was watched closely by labor experts. = =0A"What the labor movement is going to see in this failed strike is a unio= n that tried to go at it alone," said John Budd, a human resources professo= r at the University of Minnesota. =0AThe Northwest mechanics were viewed as= "outside of the mainstream labor movement" after they pulled out of the In= ternational Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, a large AFL-CI= O union, in the late 1990s. =0AHy Berman, professor emeritus of history at = the University of Minnesota, said some employers might look at the Northwes= t case and see it as "a model on how to beat the crap out of the union." = =0AHe said the strikers ultimately ended the conflict because "getting some= thing is better than getting nothing." =0AIn advance of the strike, Northwe= st trained 1,200 replacement mechanics and 300 managers. =0AJerry Glass, a = former US Airways executive, said Northwest strikers rejected a settlement = last December. But they approved a deal with lump sum payments yesterday "b= ecause the members had come to realize that the replacements were not going= to get thrown out."