Judge to rule Monday on blocking Mesaba strike

Liz Fedor, Star Tribune
October 19, 2006

A federal bankruptcy judge is scheduled to rule Monday on whether unions at Mesaba Aviation Inc. can strike if the feeder for Northwest Airlines Corp. imposes pay cuts on its workers.

The pay cuts that could trigger a strike are on hold until after the ruling, Mesaba spokeswoman Elizabeth Costello said on Wednesday.

She said the airline expects to negotiate with pilots, flight attendants and mechanics over the weekend, but that it will impose terms if the unions are blocked from striking. She said the airline has not decided what it will do if the unions are free to strike.

Mesaba was poised to impose new terms at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday if Judge Gregory Kishel had blocked a strike. But after hearing nearly seven hours of testimony and arguments on the issue on Tuesday, he postponed his decision, and the deadline.

Mesaba, a unit of MAIR Holdings Inc., filed for Chapter 11 protection in October 2005, about a month after Northwest, its only customer, did the same thing.

Liz Fedor • 612-673-7709 • lfedor@startribune.com