MPR: The Northwest Ripple

The Northwest Ripple
By Mark Zdechlik
Minnesota Public Radio
September 25, 2001

The Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development has began a series of informational meetings for Northwest Airlines' employees who are losing their jobs. Northwest says it's cutting 4,500 positions in Minnesota; exactly how many people will lose their jobs depends on how many accept voluntary leaves or retire. State officials say Northwest's troubles will have a broad, ripple effect through the state economy. For every job lost at the airline, two more positions will be lost elsewhere in Minnesota. The state is asking the federal government for millions of dollars in emergency dislocated worker funding.

Beri Corcoran, right, works with job counselor, Mike Schaitberg Tuesday. She says both of her children have pre-existing medical conditions and finding good health insurance is her priority.
(MPR Photo/Mark Zdechlik)

The Thunderbird Hotel in Bloomington across from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, is often the site of Northwest Airlines union meetings. This week's gatherings there though have nothing to do with contract language or proposals for wage increases.

Representatives from the state's Department of Trade and Economic Development - DTED - are there to help laid-off Northwest workers get short term assistance and, ultimately, new jobs.

In the parking lot, a bright purple semi-truck is a mobile response center, where newly dislocated workers can talk with job counselors, apply for unemployment benefits via the Internet and begin job searches.

It's been one day since Beri Corcoran, a single mother with two children, found out that her clerical position at Northwest Airlines had been cut. She says both of her children have pre-existing medical conditions and finding good health insurance is her priority.

"I don't know where I'm going to go," she says. "With working for Northwest and being a single mom, I had a stability of knowing that I was working for a major company. And now with not having that stability and not knowing where my insurance is going to be and where I'm going to get my paycheck, basically what I'm looking at now is filing for unemployment and taking a nice deep breath and finding out where I'm going to go from here."

Corcoran and other laid-off Northwest workers have some breathing space, as the airline is providing health insurance through the end of the year.

Betty Ann Kleinschmidt got her "you're laid off" call at home on Friday night.

"We estimate that for every Northwest job impacted, there's two more employees in related industries that are going to under stress because of these changes so that could be 14,000 to 15,000 people total," according to DTED Commissioner Rebecca Yanisch.
(MPR Photo/Mark Zdechlik)

"It's a hard call for them to make and a hard call to take, but everyone has been super," Kleinschmidt says.

She already misses her part-time job as a reservations agent. She's thankful for the dislocated worker program help and surprised at how quick and easy applying for unemployment is. She does not know what type of job to look for. "The best outcome will be if we all have a really hard decision when we get called back; do we go or do we keep the great job that we were able to get using all of these tools?" she says.

DTED Commissioner Rebecca Yanisch says the state will spend an average of $3,500 to $4,200 on each person who asks for help. In addition to unemployment compensation, which tops out at about $500 a month and is paid for no more than six months, Yanisch says there are free educational opportunities, along with help to cover transportation and day-care expenses.

"This is the largest mass layoff that we've ever experienced in the state of Minnesota. Our big goal is to get the word out that there are options, there are choices, there are ways the state of Minnesota can step up and help support the workers in this uncertain time," according to Yanisch.

And it's not just Northwest Airlines workers Yanisch and others are concerned about. "We estimate that for every Northwest job impacted, every employee impacted there, there's two more employees in related industries that are going to under stress because of these changes so that could be 14,000 to 15,000 people total."

Yanisch is asking the federal government for $24 million in emergency aid to help those losing their jobs.

During the congressional debate preceding the passage of a $15 billion bailout package for the airlines, Sen. Paul Wellstone, DFL-Minn., unsuccessfully argued for adding about $3.75 billion to help laid-off aviation workers. Wellstone has not abandoned that effort. He says among other things, unemployment payments should be extended from six months to a year and that the federal government should also bankroll health insurance coverage for laid-off workers for one full year.

"I'm outraged that the package that we had to help employees was cut out," Wellstone said. "There's some people I just don't think have much compassion here. As I'm concerned, that assistance is going to be there. I know the rules and am able to bring stuff to the floor and force the votes. We're going to get this done."

Wellstone says he too is concerned about the ripple effect the aviation layoffs will have on the rest of the nation's economy. He says that's why he's also working on much broader, and much more expensive dislocated worker legislation.

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