Mechanics Prepare for New Career

It didn’t take an imminent strike for Joe Wagner to feel insecure about his job at Northwest Airlines Corp.

Wagner, a Northwest mechanic for more than 15 years, has spent the last two of them looking around for his next career. It’s nearly certain to be less money, but Wagner’s ready to trade that for peace of mind.

“It’s just a matter of time for me,” said Wagner, 41. “I wasn’t going to wait for the layoff. I figure I have one shot to retrain for a new career and I didn’t want to let Northwest set the timetable.”

As a potential strike by mechanics looms, many rank-and-file union members are prepared to ride it out. But some others, like Wagner, began retraining for new jobs some time ago.

A strike wouldn’t take anyone by surprise. Northwest has laid off 2,500 mechanics in Minneapolis since the beginning of the Iraq war more than two years ago, local union leader Ted Ludwig said. The only reason Wagner still has his job is because he agreed to work on vehicles instead of airplanes two years ago.

Northwest, the nation’s fourth-largest airline, wants $1.1 billion in wage concessions from its workers, and has warned that it could seek bankruptcy protection if it doesn’t get them.

For employees like Wagner, it’s easy to see a layoff as inevitable, said Richard Gritta, a University of Portland professor who studies labor relations.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘I’ve had enough of this, I’m thinking about doing something else with my life,’ ” he said. “The stress, the fighting, the constant worrying about whether your company is going into Bankruptcy Court, it’s too much.”

Taking a different job is likely to mean a significant pay cut -- as much as 50% -- from the average Northwest mechanic’s salary of $70,000, said Ludwig, president of Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. Local 33.

Wagner has attended several technical schools in the last couple of years to check out different careers, and says now he is considering work as either a paralegal or a sheet metal worker.

He and his wife, Colleen, live in Coon Rapids, a suburb about 20 minutes north of Minneapolis. The couple have three children, all college-age, in their blended family. Colleen works as a preschool teacher, and says the family couldn’t get by on her salary alone.

As Wagner’s worries about his job grew in recent years, the family postponed renovating their house and began eating out less. In the nearly four years since the Sept. 11 attacks devastated the industry, Wagner and his wife have taken one vacation: a weekend getaway to the East Coast.

A local college has a six-month accelerated heating, ventilation and air conditioning program designed for former Northwest mechanics. This fall, the college also will offer a land-surveying class for former mechanics. Twelve former mechanics finished the heating, ventilation and air conditioning program in September, and another class is scheduled to start this fall.

Joe Wagner’s only hesitation about the program is that many Northwest mechanics -- with similar skills and interests -- will wind up pursuing similar careers.

“There’s so many laid-off mechanics that I don’t want to go the same way that everybody else goes,” he said.

He started thinking about being a paralegal because watching contract negotiations got him interested in the law. He says he is coming to terms with giving up work as an airline mechanic.

“I love my job, but I don’t want to be a slave to their whims,” he said.