A lot of people have been hearing in the news lately about the potential NWA Flight Attendant Union strike. The issue is over a new contract that the airline is putting forward that forces concessions on the workers, again. It's a raw deal for the workers in an industry that has been seeing benefits and pay cut after cut. Airlines have mismanaged themselves into a corner and are now taking it out on their rank and file workers instead of making adequate cuts at the top in line with what they're doing to the folks in the trenches. Right now NWA, like several airlines, is in bankruptcy while they attempt to restructure.

Under bankruptcy and union rules, technically the unions can not hold a legal strike. Many say that any strike at this point could shut the company down permenantly.

And just the other day, the flight attendants voted to overrule their union leadership over the latest revision to their contract and are promising an August 15th strike date. The workers are even tossing their union leaders aside, they're saying that there is in fact no legal reason to stop the strike. They've reached the end of their ropes and are not willing to accept further cuts which they deem highly unreasonable.

So that brings us to today, August 5th, ten days before the strike could begin. I have a flight home on August 17th. I'm going home for the wedding of one of my best friends from High School. So my flight is 2 days after the strike starts, which means that even if the strike is in fact illegal, even if there is a court order to return to work, chances are very slim it would get things operating again in time to get me back to Pennsylvania. What makes things even more dicey is the fact that this strike is supposedly going to be "guerilla warfare" with attendants walking out from select airports instead of all of them. So I may fly out from DTW, make it to State College and not be able to fly back. My flight may be staffed up to a few minutes before flight, there's no consistency to it so there won't be much warning for passengers.

Worst part is, since the airline feels it is in the legal right and that a strike is not legally allowable, they can offer no provisions for the event of a strike. All they were able to tell me is that they're committed to continuing operations and that a strike simply can not take place. And since I bought my ticket through their website as an e-fare, there's no option for a refund. They do say that in the past, they've done their best to arrange alternative flights on other carriers when a stoppage occurs, but whether or not they can pull it off this time, in time for me to get home, remains to be seen.

So no refund, potentially no warning. And I can't afford to buy another ticket on another airline right now without a refund from NWA.

So how can this backfire on the union? Well, if they follow-through the company could collapse and they'd lose their jobs completely instead of just taking a benefits package cut. Then there's the problem of public support. Flight attendants are perhaps the least essential overall of the operation of a flight. They do not load/unload luggage, they do not fly the plane. Their job is to keep the cattle in the back quiet and show them the safety demonstration. I personally find it infuriating that they have the potential to completely disrupt a large chunk of the country's flights. They do serve a purpose in the event of an emergency, I'm sure there are FAA rules about them being there too... but when it comes to the technical operation of a plane, they're not needed.

I know that my sympathy for them and their plight is severely limited when they are being some stubborn and short-sighted about what's going on. There's management too being stubborn, but at some point you have to let the management do it's thing when going through a restructuring. Chances are despite cuts to packages, that most attendants would retain their jobs going forward. A strike could lose them everything completely, and I don't think there'd be much in the way of public support for the union this time around.

It's like sawing off your leg to get at a splinter in your toe.