Wales Tourism and Visit Planning

By Staff

(AXcess News) Minneapolis - Striking Northwest Airlines (OTC: NWACQ) mechanics union members will get a chance to vote on the latest offer, union officials said late Friday.

The airlines latest offer could save as many as 500 striking union workers jobs. When the aircraft mechanics union went out on strike August 20th there were 4,100 Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) workers out of work.

Jeff Mathews, a contract coordinator for the union told reporters the negotiating committee decided to put the latest Northwest offer to the union members for a vote. "This was AMFA's negotiating committee making a very difficult decision to allow the AMFA membership to have a say in this process."

Mathews said the ratification process would take 14 days once the union receives the full text.

The offer appears a final ultimatum. Both union representatives and Northwest's said they would not describe Thursday and Friday's talks as negotiations.

In a statement released late Friday, Northwest Airlines said, "We are pleased that the AMFA leadership is giving employees the opportunity to vote on the proposed terms of an agreement."

Union leadersthought they had bargaining power when the mechanics went out on strike, but Northwest was prepared and spent $100 million to bring in non-union help while AMFA workers walked the picket line.

Before the strike, the average annual wage for a union aircraft mechanic at Northwest was $70,000 a year. Northwest's latest offer would cut those remaining workers pay by 25 percent.

[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]