Audio Northwest cuts 600 mechanics' jobs in Twin Cities (story audio) Photos Northwest CEO Doug Steenland Local 33 President Ted Ludwig Sen. Satveer Chaudhary View full slideshow (4 images) More from MPR Senators get long-awaited chance to question Northwest CEO (04/12/2005) Northwest mechanics fight back on airport, outsourcing (03/18/2005) NWA mechanics in Twin Cities could see ranks cut 30 percent by year-end (03/17/2005) Resources AMFA Local 33 Northwest Airlines Tools E-mail this page Print this page Sponsor

Northwest cuts 600 mechanics' jobs in Twin Cities
by Jeff Horwich, Minnesota Public Radio
April 13, 2005

Mechanics for Northwest watch a press conference following job cuts announced in March. At the time, Northwest said many more cuts could follow. (MPR Photo/Jeff Horwich)

Mechanics for Northwest Airlines in the Twin Cities knew it was coming, but union officials say the news was still difficult to take: 600 of their jobs will be eliminated by the first week of July. This follows 140 layoffs announced in March, when Northwest also said many more job cuts were to come. The announcement also comes just one day after the company's CEO took questions from a state Senate committee.

St. Paul, Minn. — According to the mechanics union, Northwest is closing a maintenance hanger at the airport called "Building C," and shutting down a maintenance line for DC9 aircraft.

"The management came down and gave meetings on the floor this morning to the individual crews, and that's how we were informed," says Ted Ludwig, president of Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association Local 33, the mechanics union in the Twin Cities. "We'll lose 450 guys in the heavy check line, and then 150 in the respective support shops."

Northwest confirms the cuts, and says they stem from the grounding of 30 DC9s announced in March. The airline said it had decided to ground the planes because it expects no growth in business this year. At the time, Northwest said it could cut up to 930 local mechanics jobs during 2005. These 600 cuts bring the airline within 200 jobs of that projection.

Northwest CEO Doug Steenland told the state Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday that labor cost cuts at Northwest are critical. Low-cost competitors like jetBlue and Southwest, along with bankrupt carriers like United, have lowered their labor costs, giving them a competitive advantage.

"No one wants to be in this position," Steenland told the committee. "No one wants to be in a position where you have to go to your employees and say, 'Look, the rules of the game have changed, the industry is different, and unfortunately we have to look at having our piece of what our labor costs are shrink.'"

The union contract allows mechanics to bump less senior workers out of their jobs elsewhere in Northwest's route network. One possible option for Twin Cities mechanics might be to move to a Northwest maintenance base in Duluth.

In practice, union officials say few would uproot their families to follow another unstable job at Northwest. Ludwig, the local union president, says these latest cuts hit workers with decades of experience at the airline.

"I'm 43, and I've been here for 16 years. I'm definitely losing (my job) and there will be probably 400 people who are older than me that lose theirs too," Ludwig said. "It's going to be a step onto the economy of the Twin Cities area, and a drain on government funds for unemployment."

These cuts will bring the number of Northwest mechanics in the Twin Cities to about 2,300 -- down from a peak of 5,300 in 2000. Ludwig says the only heavy maintenance line left here after July will be for 757s.

In recent years, much work on Northwest aircraft has moved to third-party repair shops in the U.S. and abroad. Northwest says its flat growth projections have led it to cut back some outsourced contracts as well.

But speaking before the Senate Transportation Committee, CEO Doug Steenland called outsourcing a "tried and true practice" that is fast becoming the industry standard. "If you look at the number of airlines that are doing this, Delta just announced that it is going to outsource to third parties substantial maintenance activity; all of the new-entrant carriers -- AirTran, ATA, Frontier, jet Blue -- they all use third parties for their work."

Steenland came to the Senate to defend a Northwest-designed expansion of the airport. The fact that the layoff announcement immediately followed Steenland's Senate appearance has raised the ire of at least one senator critical of the airline.

Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley, says Steenland might have shared with senators that a major job cut announcement was only a day away.

"I think it's just a glaring omission, and deceptive in my opinion," Chaudhary said. "And I am wondering if that's going to change the minds of some senators on how we proceed with the airport expansion, if Northwest is not upfront about everything there is to know."

Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said the announcement should not surprise Sen. Chaudhary, or anyone else. He said the airline made its plans clear in March.

Ebenhoch says and the airline handles layoffs with as much sensitivity as possible; that means notifying workers themselves before informing Senate committees.