Northwest Luggage Handlers Reject Pay Cuts, Back Strike

Baggage handlers rejected Northwest Airlines Corp.’s proposed pay cuts and authorized a strike, their union said Tuesday, a move expected to force the carrier back to the bargaining table.

Employees represented by the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers issued a split decision. Among its 7,600 ticket and reservations agents, 67% voted to approve the company’s proposal. But 60% of its 5,600 baggage handlers and stock clerks voted it down.

“The anger and frustration among all employee groups at Northwest Airlines was evident throughout the voting process,” said Bobby De Pace, president of IAM’s District 143.

“In the end, Northwest management failed to convince a majority of the workforce that the proposal was appropriate or that they could be trusted to honor their commitments,” De Pace said.

The company said it was disappointed by the outcome and would ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to restart proceedings aimed at dissolving the union’s contract with those workers who voted down the proposed settlement.

Union spokesman Frank Larkin said he expected negotiations to resume.

Voting on the Northwest proposal wrapped up Monday. The union said three-quarters of its approximately 14,000 members cast ballots.

Northwest, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September, has been pushing for $1.4 billion in permanent pay cuts and rule changes for its workers. In January, the IAM became the first of the large unions to agree.

The union asked members to vote on an 11.5% pay cut as well as rules that would allow Northwest to use more part-time workers.

But it never called Northwest’s proposed contract an agreement, and union leaders never endorsed it explicitly, although union members were advised to accept it.

The proposed contract scaled back Northwest’s outsourcing proposals, and shifted the airline’s pension plan for IAM workers to the union’s plan.

Flight attendants and pilots reached tentative agreement with the airline last week. Those have yet to be ratified by members. Both have authorized strikes if the tentative agreements are not ratified.