Decision On Whether Carrier Can Toss Out Contracts Will Come
Monday
A bankruptcy court judge was expected to rule Thursday whether
struggling regional carrier Mesaba Airlines can toss aside labor
contracts with approximately 1,500 union employees, and impose the
pay and benefit cuts it says it needs to survive... but late
Thursday night, Judge Gregory Kishel decided to give both sides
until Monday to hammer out a deal.
Using the same argument Comair presented to its unions last
month, the Northwest feeder airline told workers it
needs cash for bids to keep its routes. Mesaba bids to operate
planes owned by Northwest -- who is looking for the lowest
bidder.
Mesaba's management says it's strapped... so the cash has to
come from workers, or else the carrier won't survive.
Northwest -- facing cash problems of its own -- proposed Mesaba
fly just 30 jets, instead of the carrier's 100-jet proposal earlier
this year. Currently, Mesaba operates just 49 aircraft, all but one
of which are Saab 340 commuter turboprops.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Mesaba management has told
its unions, and the bankruptcy court, the only cash it has left is
what would be needed for an orderly liquidation.
As Aero-News reported last
week, labor unions representing pilots, flight
attendants, and mechanics at Mesaba presented airline management
with an joint offer to save their airline, their jobs, and
their contracts. The Mesaba Labor Coalition claims to have offered
offered wage, work rule and benefit concessions that will cut labor
costs by 15 percent for the next three years.
Mesaba says that's just
not good enough, though... and that it needs cuts totalling 17.5
percent to survive, and compete with other regional carriers
looking to operate routes for Northwest Airlink -- as well as the
Northwest's own Compass regional airline.
The unions have threatened to strike if the pay cuts are
imposed... with the Air Line Pilots Association sending notices
this week to its 620 pilots at Mesaba to clear their personal
belongings from company property by Sunday... just in case of a
strike or liquidation.
The Association of Flight Attendants has also told its workers
to prepare for random work stoppages under its "CHAOS" program.