Northwest Pilots Authorize Strike

The pilots union at Northwest Airlines Corp. said Tuesday that its members have authorized a strike if the carrier imposes its threatened pay-cut and work-rule changes.

More than 92 percent of pilots voted in favor of authorizing a strike, said Wade Blaufuss, spokesman for the Northwest branch of the Air Line Pilots Association. He said more than 90 percent of Northwest's 4,851 eligible pilots voted.

Blaufuss spoke by phone from New York, where the union leadership is meeting amid talks with the airline.

The vote authorizes union leaders to call a strike, but doesn't guarantee that they will. The union has said it wouldn't strike unless Northwest imposes pay-cut and work rule changes. Wednesday is the earliest that could happen. That's the day that New York bankruptcy judge Allan Gropper is set to rule on the airline's request to reject its union contracts with pilots and flight attendants.

Mark McClain, chairman of the Northwest branch of ALPA, said he's still aiming to make a deal before Gropper's deadline of 11 a.m. Wednesday. He said the framework for an agreement about who will fly Northwest's smaller jets is still in place. That had been one of the key sticking points early in negotiations.

"We'd certainly like to wrap it up," he said by phone from New York. "Our goal has been all along to reach a consensual agreement, and we'd like to do that before it's jeopardized" by exceeding any deadlines like the one the judge set for Wednesday.

Flight attendants have also threatened to strike, but their vote doesn't wrap up until March 6.

Northwest has said any strike would be illegal. A Northwest spokesman did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday.

Northwest, the nation's fourth-largest carrier, filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 14. It has been seeking $1.4 billion in annual savings from workers.

Northwest is Michigan's biggest passenger air carrier and has a hub at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.