Here's latest from the online St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Kudos to the Mesaba ALPA for an excellently orchestrated media campaign -- the stories in the papers and on TV this have, I think done an excellent job of conveying the solidarity of Mesaba pilots and making it clear to the public why they deserve better treatment from management.
Posted on Fri, Jan. 09, 2004
Mesaba cancels outgoing flights tonight; strike deadline looms
BY MARTIN J. MOYLAN
Pioneer Press
Mesaba Airlines has begun canceling outgoing late-evening flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in anticipation of a possible strike by the airline's pilots.
A survey of the Northwest Airlines Web site indicates that Mesaba flights scheduled to depart after 8 p.m. or later to Hibbing, International Falls, Duluth, Eau Claire, Bemidji, Thief River Falls, St. Cloud, Brainerd, Grand Rapids and Rochester have been canceled. Mesaba operates under a contract with Northwest, which handles its scheduling. Northwest flights to regional cities will operate as scheduled.
With a strike deadline of 11:01 tonight quickly drawing nearer, Mesaba and its pilots renewed bargaining talks early this morning after negotiating until nearly midnight Thursday.
"It sounds like there are still pretty significant gaps between the two sides,'' said pilot union spokesman Dave Ricci. "Today's the day. The pressure is on. But we're pretty hopeful."
At the same time, the pilots' union continues to make strike preparations. A strike by Mesaba's some 850 pilots would ground the regional carrier's some 600 daily flights. Mesaba was expected to begin cancelling some flights from its hubs today to ensure that its planes are not stranded at other airports if there is a strike.
Mesaba and its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, have been in contract talks for more than 2½ years. Under contract to Northwest Airlines, Mesaba flies some 5.7 million passengers a year, ferrying most of them between smaller cities and Northwest's three hub airports. A strike would eliminate or greatly reduce air service to many of the cities Mesaba serves. Half a dozen Minnesota cities would be left entirely with out air service, as would several other cities in adjoining states.
Wages are a huge sticking point in the contract talks at Mesaba. Pilots make between $17,352 and $85,445 a year. About half of Mesaba's pilots earn less than $35,000 for full-time work, the union says.
Mesaba argues it must keep its labor costs flat to compete for contracts with Northwest.
Mesaba pilots firm
BY MARTIN J. MOYLAN
Pioneer Press
With a strike deadline less than a day away, Mesaba Airlines' pilots say their resolve is undiminished.
"The determination of this group is solid," Mesaba pilot and union spokesman Dave Ricci said Thursday. "Nothing has changed. Mesaba is finally going to pay us what we are worth — or something close to it — or we won't come back."
What's more, the pilots' union says, it has the resources and solidarity to make a strike effective.
Mesaba and its 850 pilots face an 11:01 deadline tonight as they try to reach a contract settlement and avoid a strike that would ground the regional carrier's some 600 daily flights. Talks that resumed Thursday were expected to continue into the early hours this morning.
Mesaba and its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, have been in contract talks for more than 2½ years. Under contract to Northwest Airlines, Mesaba flies some 5.7 million passengers a year, ferrying most of them between smaller cities and Northwest's three hub airports. A strike would eliminate or greatly reduce air service to many of the cities Mesaba serves.
Mesaba pilots and their families are prepared to help each other through a strike, said Ricci.
Locally, they'll offer beds and meals in their homes to striking pilots who travel to the Twin Cities to picket and to engage in other strike actions. Strikers' spouses with medical training may offer free care to striking pilots and their families.
Ricci expects some 300 pilots and their families to attend a "family-to-family" meeting this coming Sunday, if there is a strike.
"These families understand each other,'' Ricci said. "It's a tremendous support structure."
At the union's strike center in Bloomington Thursday, some 20 pilots prepared for strike actions.
"We're tracking where every pilot is," said Ricci, "so we can make contact with them if they're stuck in a city far from (their home) base. And we're coordinating picketing activities and tracking flights to ensure other carriers are not flying our struck work."
Complicating things for Northwest is the vow by pilots at Northwest and Pinnacle Airlines, another regional carrier that contracts with Northwest, not to do any additional flying that helps Northwest replace Mesaba flights cancelled by a strike.
Northwest Airlines pilots have set aside $1 million to combat any Northwest effort to force its pilots to fly larger planes or additional routes to offset cancelled Mesaba flights.
"We have a right not to fly that work,'' said pilot and union spokesman Hal Myers. "But conceivably, they could discipline or terminate pilots who refuse to fly. … This is just in case Northwest management were to try to force our pilots to fly that work."
If they strike, Mesaba pilots would be eligible for monthly payments of $1,400 from ALPA, which represents pilots at most U.S. airlines and provides the financial muscle for a strike. Normally, those payments don't start until the 35th day of a strike. But Ricci expects the national board of ALPA to authorize earlier payment if there's a strike, perhaps starting them two weeks after a strike begins.
The strike payments would amount to $16,800 a year, about $600 less than the starting pay for Mesaba pilots, said Myers.
Wages are a huge sticking point in the contract talks at Mesaba. Pilots make between $17,352 and $85,445 a year. About half of Mesaba's some 850 pilots earn less than $35,000 for full-time work, the union says. At Northwest, a new pilot makes $35,000 a year. A handful of 30-year veteran captains make about $225,000 annually.
More to the point, Mesaba pilots are paid much less than their peers at other regional airlines, the union says.
"Pilots at Comair and Air Wisconsin in their second year are making in the mid-$30,000s," said Ricci. "Here, they're in the lower $20,000s."
Mesaba argues it must keep its labor costs flat to compete for contracts with Northwest.
Mesaba Holdings, the parent company of Eagan-based Mesaba Airlines, earned $7.4 million on revenue of $231.5 million for the six months that ended Sept. 30, 2003. Mesaba Airlines provided $222.8 million of the revenue.
The holding company seems positioned to weather a strike at least for a while. It had $70 million in cash and $81 million in short- and long-term investments as of last Sept. 30. Its debt level is not clear in regulatory filings, but it seems to have little debt. Its fiscal 2004 long-term debt payments are expected to total just $225,000.
As of last September, Mesaba's monthly lease payment for 104 planes was $9.1 million. Mesaba would not say Thursday if it would have to continue lease payments if its pilots strike. Mesaba leases all of its Saab 340 aircraft either directly from aircraft leasing companies or through subleases with Northwest. Mesaba leases its RJ85 regional jets from Northwest.
If a strike seems likely, flight cancellations could start this afternoon, as Mesaba tries to assure its planes are consolidated in the Twin Cities, Detroit and Memphis, Tenn., and not scattered about the country with no pilots to fly them home.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martin J. Moylan can be reached at
Kudos to the Mesaba ALPA for an excellently orchestrated media campaign -- the stories in the papers and on TV this have, I think done an excellent job of conveying the solidarity of Mesaba pilots and making it clear to the public why they deserve better treatment from management.
Posted on Fri, Jan. 09, 2004
Mesaba cancels outgoing flights tonight; strike deadline looms
BY MARTIN J. MOYLAN
Pioneer Press
Mesaba Airlines has begun canceling outgoing late-evening flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in anticipation of a possible strike by the airline's pilots.
A survey of the Northwest Airlines Web site indicates that Mesaba flights scheduled to depart after 8 p.m. or later to Hibbing, International Falls, Duluth, Eau Claire, Bemidji, Thief River Falls, St. Cloud, Brainerd, Grand Rapids and Rochester have been canceled. Mesaba operates under a contract with Northwest, which handles its scheduling. Northwest flights to regional cities will operate as scheduled.
With a strike deadline of 11:01 tonight quickly drawing nearer, Mesaba and its pilots renewed bargaining talks early this morning after negotiating until nearly midnight Thursday.
"It sounds like there are still pretty significant gaps between the two sides,'' said pilot union spokesman Dave Ricci. "Today's the day. The pressure is on. But we're pretty hopeful."
At the same time, the pilots' union continues to make strike preparations. A strike by Mesaba's some 850 pilots would ground the regional carrier's some 600 daily flights. Mesaba was expected to begin cancelling some flights from its hubs today to ensure that its planes are not stranded at other airports if there is a strike.
Mesaba and its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, have been in contract talks for more than 2½ years. Under contract to Northwest Airlines, Mesaba flies some 5.7 million passengers a year, ferrying most of them between smaller cities and Northwest's three hub airports. A strike would eliminate or greatly reduce air service to many of the cities Mesaba serves. Half a dozen Minnesota cities would be left entirely with out air service, as would several other cities in adjoining states.
Wages are a huge sticking point in the contract talks at Mesaba. Pilots make between $17,352 and $85,445 a year. About half of Mesaba's pilots earn less than $35,000 for full-time work, the union says.
Mesaba argues it must keep its labor costs flat to compete for contracts with Northwest.
Mesaba pilots firm
BY MARTIN J. MOYLAN
Pioneer Press
With a strike deadline less than a day away, Mesaba Airlines' pilots say their resolve is undiminished.
"The determination of this group is solid," Mesaba pilot and union spokesman Dave Ricci said Thursday. "Nothing has changed. Mesaba is finally going to pay us what we are worth — or something close to it — or we won't come back."
What's more, the pilots' union says, it has the resources and solidarity to make a strike effective.
Mesaba and its 850 pilots face an 11:01 deadline tonight as they try to reach a contract settlement and avoid a strike that would ground the regional carrier's some 600 daily flights. Talks that resumed Thursday were expected to continue into the early hours this morning.
Mesaba and its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, have been in contract talks for more than 2½ years. Under contract to Northwest Airlines, Mesaba flies some 5.7 million passengers a year, ferrying most of them between smaller cities and Northwest's three hub airports. A strike would eliminate or greatly reduce air service to many of the cities Mesaba serves.
Mesaba pilots and their families are prepared to help each other through a strike, said Ricci.
Locally, they'll offer beds and meals in their homes to striking pilots who travel to the Twin Cities to picket and to engage in other strike actions. Strikers' spouses with medical training may offer free care to striking pilots and their families.
Ricci expects some 300 pilots and their families to attend a "family-to-family" meeting this coming Sunday, if there is a strike.
"These families understand each other,'' Ricci said. "It's a tremendous support structure."
At the union's strike center in Bloomington Thursday, some 20 pilots prepared for strike actions.
"We're tracking where every pilot is," said Ricci, "so we can make contact with them if they're stuck in a city far from (their home) base. And we're coordinating picketing activities and tracking flights to ensure other carriers are not flying our struck work."
Complicating things for Northwest is the vow by pilots at Northwest and Pinnacle Airlines, another regional carrier that contracts with Northwest, not to do any additional flying that helps Northwest replace Mesaba flights cancelled by a strike.
Northwest Airlines pilots have set aside $1 million to combat any Northwest effort to force its pilots to fly larger planes or additional routes to offset cancelled Mesaba flights.
"We have a right not to fly that work,'' said pilot and union spokesman Hal Myers. "But conceivably, they could discipline or terminate pilots who refuse to fly. … This is just in case Northwest management were to try to force our pilots to fly that work."
If they strike, Mesaba pilots would be eligible for monthly payments of $1,400 from ALPA, which represents pilots at most U.S. airlines and provides the financial muscle for a strike. Normally, those payments don't start until the 35th day of a strike. But Ricci expects the national board of ALPA to authorize earlier payment if there's a strike, perhaps starting them two weeks after a strike begins.
The strike payments would amount to $16,800 a year, about $600 less than the starting pay for Mesaba pilots, said Myers.
Wages are a huge sticking point in the contract talks at Mesaba. Pilots make between $17,352 and $85,445 a year. About half of Mesaba's some 850 pilots earn less than $35,000 for full-time work, the union says. At Northwest, a new pilot makes $35,000 a year. A handful of 30-year veteran captains make about $225,000 annually.
More to the point, Mesaba pilots are paid much less than their peers at other regional airlines, the union says.
"Pilots at Comair and Air Wisconsin in their second year are making in the mid-$30,000s," said Ricci. "Here, they're in the lower $20,000s."
Mesaba argues it must keep its labor costs flat to compete for contracts with Northwest.
Mesaba Holdings, the parent company of Eagan-based Mesaba Airlines, earned $7.4 million on revenue of $231.5 million for the six months that ended Sept. 30, 2003. Mesaba Airlines provided $222.8 million of the revenue.
The holding company seems positioned to weather a strike at least for a while. It had $70 million in cash and $81 million in short- and long-term investments as of last Sept. 30. Its debt level is not clear in regulatory filings, but it seems to have little debt. Its fiscal 2004 long-term debt payments are expected to total just $225,000.
As of last September, Mesaba's monthly lease payment for 104 planes was $9.1 million. Mesaba would not say Thursday if it would have to continue lease payments if its pilots strike. Mesaba leases all of its Saab 340 aircraft either directly from aircraft leasing companies or through subleases with Northwest. Mesaba leases its RJ85 regional jets from Northwest.
If a strike seems likely, flight cancellations could start this afternoon, as Mesaba tries to assure its planes are consolidated in the Twin Cities, Detroit and Memphis, Tenn., and not scattered about the country with no pilots to fly them home.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martin J. Moylan can be reached at
