Audio Last regional airline strike made for "economic warfare," but its outcome encourages Mesaba pilots (story audio) Photos Line 'em up ALPA Int'l President Duane Woerth Comair union leader J.C. Lawson More from MPR Walkout by Mesaba pilots nears Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

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Last regional airline strike made for "economic warfare," but its outcome encourages Mesaba pilots
by Jeff Horwich, Minnesota Public Radio
January 9, 2004

A 2001 strike at Comair, a connecting carrier for Delta, was in many ways the precursor to today's impending confrontation between Mesaba and its pilots. (Photo Courtesy of Comair Airlines)

Late Friday night, pilots for Eagan-based Mesaba Airlines could walk off the job. The strike would ground 600 daily connecting flights for Northwest Airlines. The last airline strike in the U.S. was also at a so-called "regional carrier." In 2001, 1,350 pilots stopped flying for Comair, in a three-month strike that cost Delta Airlines hundreds of millions of dollars.

St. Paul, Minn. — After nearly three years trying to reach a contract deal with Comair and its owner, Delta, Comair pilots struck in March of 2001. The action grounded Delta connections to 95 cities, most in the eastern U.S. At the time, Comair flew 815 flights, about one-third more than Mesaba does now.

At a Mesaba pilots union rally this week, speakers paid frequent homage to the pilots at Comair. Air Line Pilots Association President Duane Woerth told the crowd of more than 400 the Comair strike shattered the notion that regional pilots do not have the financial security or the emotional fortitude to strike.

"The Comair pilots didn't choose to be or want to be on strike for 89 days to prove that regional pilots are real pilots who fly international routes with sophisticated jets," Woerth said. "But somebody had to put an end to the fiction of regional pilots, so the Comair pilots stood the test."

	ALPA Int'l President Duane Woerth

Comair pilots' union chairman J.C. Lawson says union solidarity made sure the strike cut deep. Other Delta pilots were unwilling to help cover Comair routes.

"Delta tried very hard to move those passengers, and they found out there were trying to run a six-cylinder engine on four cylinders," Lawson said. "It didn't work too well."

This time, pilots at Northwest and Pinnacle, a regional carrier owned by Northwest, have pledged not to fly Mesaba's planes or routes. And for some passengers, the inconvenience could be greater than in 2001. Unlike Comair, Mesaba serves many cities where no other airline flies.

Mesaba pilots take heart from the Comair experience. After three months, Comair pilots returned to the job with the highest pay in the industry for regional pilots. Mesaba pilots are currently near the bottom, with starting salary of about $17,000 a year. At the time, a Delta executive called the Comair settlement "fair and equitable."

Comair's hub is Cincinnati\Northern Kentucky International Airport. James Pilcher who covered the strike for the Cincinnati Enquirer, says the strike first signaled the industry changes that are driving today's confrontation at Mesaba. The major carriers are no longer hiring -- in fact, they're cutting back. Regional airlines used to be a pass-through job for young pilots. Now they're a career worth fighting for.

At the same time, Pilcher says small subsidiary airlines are more critical to big carriers like Delta and Northwest.

	Comair union leader J.C. Lawson

"Post-September 11th, more and more flying is being done by regional jets, and I think that the strike raised awareness of how important regional jets are to the system," Pilcher said.

Pilcher says union leaders crow about their contract, but in the end there were no winners in the Comair strike.

"I really consider it to be a draw, and I'm not trying to be policially correct with that," Pilcher said. "Both sides did severe amounts of damage to each other. It was economic warfare."

Pilots went 89 days without a paycheck. Comair closed its Cincinnati concourse and laid off 2400 non-pilot workers, though all got their jobs back when the strike ended. Losing more than 800 daily flights saddled Delta with a $200 million loss for the quarter.

As the strike dragged on, companies grew increasingly frustrated with the travel disruption. Pilcher says in Cincinnati, regional business interests like Proctor and Gamble and Toyota eventually helped bring the strike to an end.

"You saw a lot of the business community after two or three months say, 'We need to get this settled, (though) we're not trying to say who's right or who's wrong,'" Pilcher said. "And at that point it got to where some politicians got involved."

U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta brought both sides into his office. Within two weeks they settled on a contract.

Delta referred all questions about the strike to Comair, which did not return phone calls. A spokesman for Mesaba cautions against comparing Mesaba and Comair, saying regional airlines have different structures and relationships to their parent carriers. But the last airline strike three years ago is surely on the minds of both sides in Bloomington, as they return to the negotiating table for one last attempt to avert another one.

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