Northwest Airlines made its "last, best" offer to union mechanics Thursday evening, leaving little hope, the mechanics say, that the two sides can reach a deal by the post-midnight strike deadline.
"For their last, best offer, it is still significantly short of what we need to be able to sign a deal," said Steve MacFarlane, assistant national director at the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association.
Neither side would comment on the offer's details.
"We've had a full day of discussions with AMFA negotiators and we look forward to resuming those" today, said Northwest spokesman Bill Mellon.
But it's unclear whether that will happen. MacFarlane said Thursday night that he did not know of any scheduled meetings today.
With less than a day before what could be the largest airline strike in Michigan since 1998, union mechanics at Northwest have taken most of their tools home.
But it appears Wall Street, as well as much of the traveling public, doesn't care. Northwest's stock rose nearly 10% Thursday -- it has risen 36% since last Friday -- and the airline says 85%-90% of its seats will be filled this weekend.
Some travelers have been trying to come up with backup plans, but many are sticking with their tickets, hopeful that Northwest will deliver on its promise to operate despite the potential labor unrest.
Northwest officials contend a crisis won't happen to them.
The nation's fourth-largest airline and the dominant carrier at Detroit Metro Airport offered little new information Thursday about the impending strike or lockout but already has said it has an army of replacement workers lined up.
If Northwest's strategy fails, the company that supplies the bulk of air service to Michigan faces a likely bankruptcy reorganization, possibly within a few months.
Facing Northwest's first major labor dispute since striking pilots grounded planes in 1998, Northwest and its unions say they're prepared for whatever might happen as the clock ticks to 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
The airline wants $176 million in concessions from its mechanics and, in a prior offer, proposed to make the cuts by slashing pay by more than 25% and laying off nearly half of the union's membership.
Union leaders Thursday night said the airline's latest offer isn't much better.
"At this point I would say it's pretty much done. It's over," said Bob Rose, president of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association Local 5.
Union mechanics are ready to carry their screwdrivers and wrenches out with them after midnight. Many took their wheeled cases of tools home last week. Local union leaders spent Thursday cleaning the group's two-room office in the McNamara Terminal at the airport, moving out files, books and computers, Rose said.
Today, Rose and other local union leaders expect to "go over the strike plan for the hundredth time," he said.
Tonight, Rose said, he plans to send union stewards to the airport. "I'm sure tempers are going to be flaring ... and I want everyone out of here in an orderly fashion," he said.
Meanwhile, the flight attendants union continues to collect votes from members about launching a sympathy strike. The voting will conclude at midnight.
With 10,000 members, the Professional Flight Attendants Association is the group labor experts say is most likely to honor a mechanics picket line. Northwest said it has 1,500 replacement attendants ready.
The flight attendants union also has assembled a call-in center for employees' questions in its office in Bloomington, Minn.
The union that represents ramp workers and ticket agents told its members Wednesday to report to work Saturday, even if it means crossing a picket line.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 141 also expects to run a call-in center out of its Romulus office until the dispute is resolved.
"We're going to monitor our own people. We're going to make sure they can get in and out of work OK," said Stephen Gordon, president of the union's Local 141.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press
