July 20, 2006

Pilots Chief Defiant in Mesaba Showdown

Associated Press
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BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) - The head of the nation's largest pilots union set
up a potential legal showdown over Mesaba Airlines on Thursday, saying he'd
prefer liquidation of the Northwest Airlines feeder over accepting a
contract approved by a bankruptcy judge.

Air Line Pilots Association President Duane Woerth vowed a strike that could
kill Mesaba if it imposes a new contract on pilots -- even though a judge
has given the airline permission to do so. And he said he won't sign a
contract that includes similar terms, even if Mesaba's 730 active pilots
approve it.

If Mesaba "wants to keep the company alive, they're going to have to meet my
terms," he said.

Mesaba's parent, MAIR Holdings Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection in October. Mesaba provides the only air service in many of the
98 cities it flies to, mostly in the Midwest. Its fleet once included about
100 planes, including some small jets, but Northwest is reducing it to 49
prop-driven Saabs that seat up to 34 passengers.

Woerth's threat was the strongest yet from any of the unions fighting
Mesaba's demands for major pay cuts. Mesaba has said it needs the
concessions if it is to keep flying for Northwest, its only customer.

Strike threats have been common from pilots and other unions at bankrupt
airlines. But this was the first time in any of the recent bankruptcies that
Woerth has inserted himself so directly into the negotiations between an
airline and its pilots.

Woerth said that's because the pay cuts negotiated at airlines such as
bankrupt United Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp.
left those pilots with enough to live on. At Mesaba, the union said a new
first officer -- the lowest-ranked, lowest-paid pilot at the airline --
would make $16,417 a year under the company's proposal, down from $19,337
under the current contract.

"They know they can't live on this anyway," Woerth said. "And worse, they
know what they'd be doing to their brother and sister pilots across the
country." He said other regional carriers would aim for similar terms if
Mesaba succeeds.

"If we don't fight it out here, we will never be safe in this industry. We
might as well fight it out here," he said.

Mesaba has won permission from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gregory Kishel to
impose a new contract on pilots, flight attendants and mechanics if it gives
10 days notice first. Mesaba has not started that clock ticking, and talks
continued on Thursday.

A Mesaba spokesman did not return a phone message Thursday.

Flight attendants and mechanics have also raised the possibility of a
strike.
___

Joshua Freed can be reached at jfreed(at)ap.org

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