NWA merger could bring union friction

While the pilots of Northwest Airlines are demanding to have a say in any merger and could well get it, many of the airline's 32,000 employees face more unsettling times.

Seniority, pay and job security all could be affected if the largely nonunion Delta Air Lines is the surviving airline in a megacombination that would create the world's largest airline. And Northwest's ground workers and flight attendants are seen by analysts as having less clout than the pilots in trying to shape a merger to make it more to their liking.

"We're hearing a lot of questions," said Kevin Griffin, president of the Association of Flight Attendants at Northwest. "But we've been hearing about a Delta-Northwest merger for the past three years, so we're prepared."

The pilots at both airlines are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association and are in regular contact. A common union philosophy does not exist for flight attendants and employees on the ground.

Under federal law, the surviving airline would hold an election of workers to determine if they want to remain in their union.

Failure to obtain a majority of votes from a combined Delta-Northwest group would end union representation and void the existing contract.

In the case of flight attendants, an organizing drive is underway to make Delta flight attendants part of the same organization that represents Northwest's.

Another key issue to be resolved in a merger is seniority and how to consolidate the two workforces to provide some equity in pay and credit for time on the job.

"Seniority is huge in terms of assignments, plum jobs, less desirable jobs," said David Larson, who teaches employment law at the Hamline University School of Law. "It's an issue for everybody. Job descriptions are going to be different. Lines of progression are not going to fit. That can create a lot of confusion."

Many mergers result in job losses as the new, larger company looks for redundancies in its workforce and achieves new economies of scale that require fewer employees.

That could be the case in a Delta-Northwest merger, but not necessarily. A combined carrier in a rapidly consolidating airline industry might have a competitive edge with a favorable route structure, keeping planes full and employees in their jobs.

"For a merger to work, there has to be economic gain," said labor economist John Budd of the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. That gain, he explained, could come through consolidation or by gaining broader route structure and pricing power.

Budd warned that Northwest's workers might face a more dire future from not merging than from the carrier entering into a merger, if Northwest then found itself facing more formidable competitors.

"If a merger is inevitable, would Northwest employees be better off with Delta and some layoffs, or would employees be better off on the outside looking in at a Delta-United merger?" Budd asked. "That might have more severe repercussions than a merger."

David Phelps • 612-673-7269

« WE'RE HEARING A LOT OF QUESTIONS. BUT WE'VE BEEN HEARING ABOUT A DELTA-NORTHWEST MERGER FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS, SO WE'RE PREPARED. »

Kevin Griffin, president of the Association of Flight Attendants at Northwest