Northwest Meeting Is Halted by Hecklers

Northwest Airlines Corp. cut short its annual shareholders meeting Friday after union members heckled company officials in a clear sign labor woes at the nation’s fourth-largest airline are far from over.

The airline is still recovering from a strike by its pilots last summer, and now it is facing increasingly contentious talks with flight attendants.

The annual meeting ended with Northwest Chairman Gary Wilson walking off the stage after members of the Teamsters union, representing the airline’s 11,000 flight attendants, continued shouting out questions despite Wilson’s requests for peace.

“These flight attendants have been in negotiations for 2 1/2 years,” said Ray Benning, director of the airline division for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

A Northwest spokesman said the airline is hopeful both sides can agree to a new contract, but company executives sounded less than conciliatory during the meeting.

Asked whether the airline was prepared to endure another costly labor battle, Wilson said Northwest had to keep its costs competitive with those at rival airlines.

“We are anxious as you are to have a contract that is fair to you and the company,” Wilson said, but he added that the airline would not make concessions that would hurt its cost structure.

Labor groups at Northwest have pushed harder for better contracts in recent years as the airline has recovered from its near-bankruptcy in 1993 and as its profit has risen.

Flight attendants at the meeting said they were frustrated and would support a strike. “The majority of us want to get out today. Enough is enough,” said Danny Blackmon, who has been a flight attendant for 15 years.