Northwest Will Impose Pact on Attendants

Northwest Airlines said Wednesday that it would impose a contract on the carrier’s 6,700 flight attendants April 1, despite a stalemate over wage demands that nearly triggered a strike last month.

Northwest said a provision of the Railway Labor Act allowed it to implement contract changes unilaterally following a 30-day cooling-off period that ended Feb. 26.

Flight attendants have voted to strike since then, but have continued to work while pursuing negotiations with the airline through their Teamsters union local.

Union spokesman Jeffrey Musto said he had no immediate comment on the airline’s latest move because lawyers were still studying it.

Terry Erskine, the airline’s vice president of law and labor relations, said the contract did not include a union proposal to limit the number of years needed to elevate attendants to higher salary levels.

The main obstacle to reaching an agreement between the airline and the Teamsters union local representing the attendants has been a demand by the union to raise lower-paid B-scale attendants to A-scale wages.