EAGAN, Minn., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Honorable Victor Marrero of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York today granted Northwest Airlines' request for a preliminary injunction to prevent a threatened strike or work action by the company's flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA).
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The judge's ruling prevents AFA from taking any work action against the company until the court rules on Northwest's appeal of Bankruptcy Court Judge Allan Gropper's denial of the airline's request for a preliminary injunction.
Commenting on Judge Marrero's decision, Doug Steenland, president and chief executive officer, said, "We are pleased with Judge Marrero's decision to grant the preliminary injunction. We remain committed to negotiating a consensual agreement with our flight attendants and hope to accomplish that goal in the near future."
"As always, we are committed to serving our customers professionally and transporting them to their destinations safely and reliably," Steenland added. "Customers can continue to book the airline with confidence."
Northwest and two unions representing its flight attendants have negotiated two tentative agreements. Last month, the flight attendants rejected a tentative contract agreement Northwest had negotiated with AFA that would have met the targeted $195 million in annual labor cost savings. AFA endorsed that tentative agreement and recommended its members vote in favor of it.
As a result of the contract rejection, and in accordance with a previous decision of the bankruptcy court, Northwest implemented contract terms and conditions for its flight attendants that met the required $195 million of annual labor cost savings for that group.
Northwest has reached agreements on permanent wage and benefit reduction agreements with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), Aircraft Technical Support Association (ATSA), the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), and the Northwest Airlines Meteorologists Association (NAMA). Two rounds of salaried and management employee pay and benefit cuts have also been instituted and the needed aircraft maintenance employee labor cost savings have been achieved, which allowed Northwest to meet its goal of achieving $1.4 billion in annual labor savings.
Northwest Airlines is the world's fifth largest airline with hubs at Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, Tokyo and Amsterdam, and approximately 1,200 daily departures. Northwest is a member of SkyTeam, an airline alliance that offers customers one of the world's most extensive global networks. Northwest and its travel partners serve more than 900 cities in excess of 160 countries on six continents.
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