Northwest pilots say pay cuts may lead to a strike

The union representing Northwest Airlines Corp.'s pilots asked a judge to deny the airline's request to throw out its contract, saying the move would hurt the airline's reorganization and might prompt a strike.

The Air Line Pilots Association Thursday asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper to order the airline to keep negotiating on a new contract. Northwest says it needs to reduce pilots' pay to cut expenses by $630 million a year and stay competitive. The pilots said they proposed a plan in December to cut costs by $544 million.

Northwest is asking to scrap contracts with its three biggest unions and impose new terms if agreements can't be reached this month. Flight attendants threatened to strike Wednesday, and Northwest's largest union, the International Association of Machinists, objected to the company's effort to eliminate almost half its members' jobs.

"These demands justifiably have created distrust and anger in a pilot work force which is key to the company's chances for reorganization," Richard Seltzer, a lawyer for the union, said in court papers. "ALPA may lawfully strike should this court reject the agreement."

"We do not believe that a work stoppage would be in the best interest of the airline, its employees, our customers or the communities we serve," the company said in a statement. "We continue to have regular discussions with ALPA, IAM and PFAA representatives to reach consensual agreements in the very near future."

Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said the airline doesn't believe the unions have the right to strike if Gropper blocks them from doing so.

The pilots union, representing 5,700 Northwest pilots, said it has the legal right to strike under the federal Railway Labor Act. There have been five pilot strikes at Northwest since 1969, according to court documents. The most recent was in 1978, when the pilots walked off the job for 109 days. In 1998, Northwest shut down for 15 days in response to the threat of a strike, the union said in court papers.

The pilots agreed to $265 million in pay cuts and other savings in 2004 and last month offered to provide an additional $294 million, the union said in court papers.

Northwest is seeking $1.4 billion in annual savings. The airline has already reached new contract agreements with three of its seven unions.

The possibility of a strike by the pilots in the Northwest case comes one month after the union said it was considering a strike over a move by Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. to reject its pilots' contract.

The strike threat ended temporarily when the union and the airline agreed on short-term 14 percent pay cuts and agreed to negotiate a final deal by March.

Contributing: Lynne Marek; Patricia Hurtado

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