By Dan Reed, USA TODAY
With 1,500 replacement workers poised to assume key aircraft maintenance and repair tasks at Northwest Airlines, the carrier's government safety regulator said Wednesday that it will intensify oversight if mechanics strike.
If Northwest mechanics stop work Saturday, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Alison Duquette, the agency will follow established procedures for increased monitoring of carriers with labor difficulties.
FAA inspectors will be at all Northwest maintenance sites in the USA this weekend, including those operated by contractors. Inspectors "will be closely monitoring all of their maintenance" work, she said.
The 50-person FAA office in Minneapolis that monitors Northwest's operations may get some help over the weekend from other FAA offices once a strike begins.
After that, she said, oversight will be left to the Minneapolis office, which is close to the carrier's Eagan, Minn., home.
But a representative for the FAA inspectors' union questioned how effective increased scrutiny can be.
Linda Goodrich, vice president of the Professional Airways Systems Specialists union, says her members already are stretched thin monitoring an industry in which every carrier is financially stressed.
Now, if Northwest relies on replacement mechanics and contractors, FAA inspectors may not be able to keep a close enough eye on everything.
"I don't know how you train in a few months people to replace mechanics who've been there 15 to 30 years," she said.
Northwest management says all the replacements are fully qualified, and most are experienced mechanics laid off by other carriers.
About 4,500 members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association at Northwest are scheduled to strike — or be locked out — at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday.
Federally mediated contract talks in Washington, D.C., made no apparent progress Wednesday and are scheduled to continue today. Management is seeking $176 million in annual savings through elimination of more than half of the mechanics' jobs and deep pay cuts for those who remain.
Executives at the USA's No. 4 carrier promise to operate a full schedule if there's a strike, using the replacement mechanics to handle day-to-day maintenance. All overhaul and component repair work will be contracted out to vendors, most of which already do some work for Northwest.
AMFA leaders say Northwest passengers should expect significant travel disruptions during a strike because the replacement workers won't be able to keep up with the carrier's maintenance needs.
