Not A Great Couple Of Weeks For NWA

Today's the day for flight attendants awaiting word on whether they can strike Northwest Airlines... as a federal court is expected to rule Friday afternoon on an appeal by the airline that disputes an earlier ruling, that stated the court doesn't have the authority to block the strike.

On Thursday, the US Justice Department also asked the judge to reconsider the planned strike by the Association of Flight Attendants... saying a work stoppage would cause serious disruptions to the country's air transportation system, and would be a violation of the Railway Labor Act of 1931 -- which prohibits employees from striking a bankrupt company.

"Because Northwest and AFA remain bound by the provisions of the RLA, they must continue to negotiate as required by law," the government said. "The AFA is therefore not entitled to strike at this time."

Depending on how the court decides to handle the matter, flight attendants at Northwest plan to begin their 'CHAOS' strategy at 10:01 pm EDT Friday night. Random strikes and work stoppages are planned, with little notice beforehand -- all with the intent of delaying or cancelling flights throughout Northwest's network, to protest the airline's plan to impose a new contract on flight attendants.

Apologizes For Pamphlet

These past two weeks have been tough ones for Northwest. In addition to bankruptcy, and this week's terror scare in Amsterdam... the airline also apologized to workers last week after it handed out a pamphlet entitled "101 Ways to Save Money," to ground workers the airline was about to lay off.

Northwest maintains it was only attempting to help those workers economize... but employees called the pamphlet offensive, as it gave such helpful hints to the soon-to-be-ex-employees as "don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash," "use old newspapers for cat litter," and "write letters instead of calling," among other things.

Perhaps that wasn't the greatest advice... but Northwest management has stated before if the flight attendants are successful in their attempt to slow or stop flights at the bankrupt carrier, it could mean the end of the airline -- which would mean a lot more people may suddenly need to heed those tips.

FMI: www.nwa.com, www.nwaafa.org