Romulus, Mich. – The Professional Flight Attendants Association at Northwest Airlines has its hands full.
It’s bad enough that the 9,700-member union faces the loss of 1,400 jobs and $195 million in cutbacks as Northwest struggles in bankruptcy, but now two rival AFL-CIO affiliated unions are attempting to move in and take over representation of the flight attendants.
PFAA officials lashed out at the 40,000-member Association of Flight Attendants and the 140,000-member Transport Workers Union of America for swooping in during labor strife.
“We feel this is ill-timed,” said Peter Fiske, a PFAA executive. “They claim they want to help us out. But they are forcing us to strip our resources to fight off a union raid. This is a distraction. We need to be concentrating on other issues like bankruptcy, job losses and negotiations.”
The jousting among unions is another sign of the difficult and contentious times for organized labor. The AFL-CIO is still reeling from a revolt by some of its biggest member unions.
The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association launched a strike against Northwest in August and no other unions joined the picket lines.
In the case of the flight attendants, both rival unions claim they have been approached by frustrated Northwest flight attendants looking for stronger leadership to help them through the financial crisis at the carrier.
In addition to cutting 1,400 jobs, Northwest wants to cut flight attendants’ pay by as much as 19.6 percent and reduce health benefits.
The two raiding unions claim the independent PFAA does not have the clout or the experience to achieve the best outcome in bankruptcy for the attendants.
The Association of Flight Attendants began its union drive Sept. 13, one day before Northwest filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
About three weeks later, the Transport Workers Union of America mounted a drive to collect the signatures of 50 percent of the flight attendants necessary to have the National Mediation Board order a new election to determine which union will represent the flight attendants.
The PFAA took over representation of the Northwest attendants in 2003 when it conducted its own raid on the flight attendants’ Teamsters-run union.
