Pilots at Pinnacle Airlines, a regional carrier that flies some 700 regional flights daily for Northwest Airlines, have authorized a strike after growing frustrated with stalled contract talks.
The vote at Pinnacle last week resulted in more than 99 percent agreeing to authorize a strike against the Memphis, Tenn.-based airline, which operates as Northwest Airlink under an agreement with Northwest, the Twin Cities' dominant airline.
The vote doesn't mean a strike is likely any time soon. The National Labor Relations Board will urge the two sides to agree to binding arbitration. If either party rejects that request, they then enter a 30-day cooling off period. At the end of that period, a strike could take place.
Both sides indicated Monday that they'd like to make a deal.
"Pilots are looking for their fair share," said Kimberly Seitz, a spokeswoman for the union that represents the 1,200 Pinnacle pilots. "Management continues to buy planes and the business is profitable. Pilots just want some acknowledgement."
"It's a high priority for us to get a deal done," Pinnacle said in a statement Monday. "Our pilots deserve it, and on more than one occasion, we thought we had a deal. We have confidence in the union leadership and look forward to getting back to the table."
The key issues for pilots include job security, the company's retirement plan and wages. The union said in a statement that pilots haven't had a raise in several years. First-year Pinnacle pilots typically earn less then $19,000 a year. The midpoint for captain's salaries is $61,900; for first officers it is $24,300, according to the airline.
The pilots contract became amendable in April 2005, and the two sides requested a mediator in August 2006.
Pinnacle connects passengers in smaller markets with Northwest's hubs in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit and Memphis. Pinnacle also flies for Delta Air Lines as Delta Connections, and that regional service also would feel the effect of a strike. Pinnacle's operations out of Minneapolis-St. Paul account for about 24 percent of the airline's flights.
Eagan-based Northwest bought Pinnacle in 1997 and spun it off in an initial public offering in 2003. Though it is a stand-alone airline, Pinnacle's service agreement with Northwest is the backbone of its business, and it leases its aircraft from Northwest.
The two airlines' agreement says that if a strike at Pinnacle leads to a certain percentage of Pinnacle planes not flying for seven days or more, Northwest can terminate the agreement.
John Welbes can be reached at [email protected] or 651-228-2175.
