No good news for Northwest Airlines Union Dispute

Northwest Airlines has spent past three days negotiating with it's mechanics over a raise in both wages and benefits. The current strike has lasted for 23 days thus far, and there is no end in site. Since the beginning of the strike on August 20, the airline giant has considered using replacement workers to fly. As more time passes this option looks more and more probable. The major reason for the refusal of raises is the rising price of fuel. Northwest officials estimate that they will need to generate a cost savings of $1.1 billion annually to avoid bankruptcy, and this number is a low estimate due to the increasing prices of fuel.

This union situation illustrates the problems and path toward demise of the American company. The union is simply demanding more money than the company can afford, forcing them to make a difficult decision on whether to pay their workers more and file bankruptcy, or finding new non-union workers that they can pay a wage that will be more cost effective for the for the corporation.

While the union that represents the mechanics is attempting to help them to make more money, they are actually costing union members jobs and money. At this point Northwest Airlines estimates a loss of 75% on the union employees, which means that thousands of people will lose their jobs and get paid nothing, instead of taking a job-saving pay cut.