Northwest Keeps Flying as Mechanics Strike

From the New York Times:

DETROIT, Aug. 20 - Northwest Airlines kept flying on Saturday despite a strike by its mechanics over the airline's demand for extensive wage and job cuts. Other unions at Northwest did not join the mechanics' walkout, the first major labor disruption at a domestic airline since 1998.
The situation was in sharp contrast to the walkouts that shook the industry in the 1980's and 1990's, triggering airline bankruptcies and contributing to the demise of major industry names like Pan American World Airways and Eastern Airlines.

The lack of support for the mechanics - and Northwest's ability to operate despite the walkout - demonstrated a new reality in the airline industry, which has lost more than $30 billion and cut more than 130,000 jobs in the last five years, buffeted by stiff competition from low-fare rivals and record-high fuel prices.

"This strike may be of historic importance," said Gary Chaison, a professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. "Here members of a labor union are on strike to save their jobs, and the rest of the labor movement refuses to help it. So much for solidarity."

The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents 4,430 workers at the airline, went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Saturday after the two sides failed to agree on Northwest's effort to win $176 million in concessions.

Read the rest here (subscription req'd, but free registration)