Judge keeps airline flying by siding with unions
FROM LOCAL AND AP REPORTS
A bankruptcy judge refused on Thursday to allow Mesaba Airlines to reject its contracts with union workers.
Pilots, flight attendants and mechanics at the feeder carrier for Northwest Airlines Corp. had threatened to strike if Mesaba was allowed to impose its terms on them.
Now, with a strike less likely than it seemed a day ago, officials at the Muskegon County Airport are expressing relief. Approximately 70 percent of the airport’s commercial airline passengers use Mesaba, a regional carrier for Northwest Airlines.
Mesaba runs three round-trip flights a day between Musk-egon and Detroit. A strike could have begun as early as this evening, and Saturday’s flights out of Muskegon might have been jeopardized, according to Marty Piette, manager of the Muskegon County Airport.
“This is good news, of course,” Piette said. “The two sides have to continue negotiating, and we’re looking forward to them coming to some sort of agreement so they can continue to service our passengers.”
In a written order, Bankruptcy Judge Gregory Kishel encouraged the airline and its unions to work out their differences in a mutually beneficial way.
“Clearly, the parties can — and should — continue efforts toward a consensual resolution,” Kishel wrote in his order.
Mesaba spokeswoman Elizabeth Costello said she didn’t have an immediate comment on the ruling.
Mesaba pilots had promised to strike if the airline imposed pay cuts on them. Flight attendants and mechanics also had threatened job actions.
Mesaba gets its planes and passengers from Northwest; both carriers filed for bankruptcy protection within a month of each other last fall. Mesaba, a unit of MAIR Holdings Inc., has said it will only be able to keep flying for Northwest if it gets cost cuts from its workers.
Mesaba is the only air service in many of the 98 mostly Midwestern cities it serves.
Original Article