In the heat of a labor confrontation, Northwest Airlines Corp. last month took the unusual step of asking that President Bush not intervene to avert a strike by its mechanics.
The airline said it was well prepared to ensure normal operations even if the 4,400 union workers stopped working in protest of proposed job and pay cuts. The nation's fourth-largest carrier worked 14 months to have replacement workers ready to move into place.
The airline's request of the president sent another message: Northwest was prepared to endure a strike, even risk bankruptcy, to guarantee that it would be able to pay its workers less in the future than it does today. The airline's survival depended on it, executives reckoned.
With or without a strike, Northwest's strategy in its battle with its mechanics sends a message that financially strapped airlines are willing to resort to increasingly dire measures to cut costs in a highly competitive industry, labor analysts and union officials said. It also underscores the weakening of the airlines' unions, once a powerful and dominant force in the industry.
"If a corporation can eliminate an entire workforce and bring in replacement workers, it has ramifications for every other unionized company. That's what's at stake," said Steve MacFarlane, the mechanics union spokesman.
The mechanics could strike at 12:01 Saturday morning if the airline and union fail to agree on a contract. Northwest's chief executive, Douglas M. Steenland, is known as a tough negotiator. He took over the leadership of the airline in October after serving as its general counsel and head of labor negotiations.
Northwest is seeking $176 million in concessions from the mechanics as part of $1.1 billion in annual labor savings. The union said the airline wants to slice the mechanic workforce in half by using more outside contractors, and to cut the pay of remaining workers by 25 percent.
Northwest would not say what its targets are in cutting jobs and reducing pay, adding that it is willing to negotiate how it achieves its $176 million cost-cutting goal. The number of Northwest mechanics has dwindled from 10,000 in 2001 to 4,400, according to MacFarlane.
The airline said it received a counterproposal yesterday, which it valued around $100 million but said "falls far short."
Both sides are to continue negotiations today in Washington and are expected to talk through midnight, barring an agreement. "I'm confident that if we don't have a deal at the end of the countdown, we will go on strike. We don't have a choice," MacFarlane said.
Northwest said it has 1,300 replacement mechanics lined up who are willing to work at lower wages. Most have been laid off from other carriers. The rest of the work would be outsourced, the airline said. Northwest said it was legally allowed to resort to "self help" by replacing workers who strike.
It was unclear whether striking workers would permanently lose their jobs to replacement employees. Northwest said it would not speculate on the future job status of strikers.
