U.S.

Northwest, Mechanics Reach Deal

March 9, 2001 / 12:06 PM EST / AP

Northwest Airlines and its mechanics reached a tentative agreement early Monday, ending a 4-year stalemate just days before a board of professional arbitrators was to recommend settlement terms.

Steve MacFarlane, president of Local 33 of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, said union members would be briefed during the next two weeks in anticipation of a ratification vote on the deal.

He would not provide details of the tentative agreement reached after 20 hours of weekend bargaining before the National Mediation Board.

Richard Anderson, chief executive of Northwest Airlines, also confirmed the tentative deal but would not provide details.

"I'm gratified that we have reached an agreement, and hopeful that it will go quickly and smoothly toward ratification," Anderson said.

Talks between the union and the nation's fourth largest airline collapsed last month, and Northwest mechanics prepared to go on strike until President Bush stepped in. Bush appointed an emergency board on March 11, preventing a strike for 60 days. The board had been given 30 days to issue a nonbinding report recommending settlement terms.

Northwest had agreed to comply with the board's report; the union had not and was poised to strike on May 10.

In previous negotiations, the airline and union made progress on such issues as vacation time and insurance but remained stymied over pay and pension.

The two sides met Saturday and Sunday to consider whether they would rekindle a proposal that called for a 26 percent initial wage increase and a 112 percent pension increase.

The dispute dates to October 1996, the end of a three-year period in which all Northwest employees worked for concessionary wages to help save the company from bankruptcy.

From 1996 to 1998, negotiations were handled by the International Association of Machinists. That union reached a tentative agreement with the airline in June 1998, but mechanics led an overwhelming rejection of the deal and switched their affiliation to AMFA.

AMFA represents about 9,500 Northwest mechanics, cleaners and custodians.