MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Mesaba Airlines pilots are threatening a strike if negotiations don't produce a new contract by Friday night.þþA 30-day cooling-off period ends at 12:01 a.m. EST on Saturday, and pilots have said they will strike then if a deal isn't reached.þþMesaba's 844 pilots provide regional air service for Northwest Airlines from its hubs in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit, and Memphis, Tenn. The airline serves 119 cities in the northern U.S. and Canada, including several that are not served by any other airline.þþNorthwest owns 28 percent of Mesaba, provides its airplanes, and handles its reservations. Mesaba has said it must keep its labor costs flat to keep flying for Northwest.þþPilots have been bargaining since June 2001, and in October, 98 percent of the pilots voted to authorize a strike.þþFriday's potential strike shows how the major airlines' drive to cut costs is filtering through the industry. Because the majors often provide the planes and set the routes and schedules for their regional partners, they have all the muscle they need. And analysts agree that they've been flexing it.þþ``It's leverage, and they use it. It's a cutthroat business,'' said Doug Abbey, an aviation consultant who focuses on regional airlines for AvStat Associates. ``The best service provider at that cost is going to win the deal.''þþPay has been a key issue in the prolonged talks.þþDave Ricci, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, said Mesaba has offered a 1 percent raise for captains and 5 percent for first officers. But he said the airline also proposed cutting the flight hours guaranteed to pilots from 75 to 70, which would result in a net pay cut, he said.þþThe Air Line Pilots Association has said that about half of Mesaba's pilots earn less than $35,000 for full-time work.þþ``We're not trying to break the bank,'' Ricci said Thursday. ``We're just trying to get in line with what we consider our peers in the industry.''þþJosh Marks, associate director of George Washington University's Aviation Institute, predicted that Mesaba would settle with its pilots because Northwest will want to avoid a strike.þþNorthwest ``cannot afford to take one at this point for such a key affiliate in their network,'' he said.þþOther analysts have pointed out that January is a slow time for the airlines, and major carriers like Northwest have made a point of cutting costs.þþIf the pilots do strike, Northwest will be limited in its ability to pick up Mesaba passengers. Pilots at Northwest and its other regional carrier, Pinnacle Airlines, have said they will not fly new routes or larger planes added to make up for struck Mesaba routes, as they're allowed to do under federal labor law.þþNorthwest said it would allow passengers with tickets for travel on Mesaba between Jan. 9 and Jan. 17 to rebook those flights on Northwest or Pinnacle with no change fees. Passengers who rebook flights for travel beyond Feb. 9 must pay any difference in fares, but change fees will be waived, Northwest said.þþ``It's a great job. But it's not a hobby,'' said Mesaba first officer Patrick Cornette, 40, of St. Paul, Minn. Without a raise, he said, ``It just doesn't make sense to keep doing this.'' þþþþ
Source: NY Times
