MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Flight attendants at Northwest Airlines Corp. asked the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate the airline's plans to replace them if they follow mechanics into a strike later this month.
In a petition filed with the FAA on Tuesday, the flight attendants said they were concerned that safety and security information was being released to non-employees - namely, flight attendant trainees who have not yet been hired. That ''should raise concerns for the FAA and the flying public in a post-9/11 world,'' said Peter Fiske, a spokesman for the Professional Flight Attendants Association.
He declined to release a copy of the request to the FAA.
Mediated talks between Northwest and its mechanics resumed on Tuesday in Washington. The mechanics will be free to strike on Aug. 20. The airline has vowed to keep flying.
Neither flight attendants nor pilots have said whether they will keep working if mechanics strike. Northwest has been training replacement flight attendants and mechanics in case of a strike, and has vowed to keep flying.
Northwest chief executive Doug Steenland has said that leaders of the flight attendants union acknowledged that there's nothing in their contract that allows them to conduct a sympathy strike.
On Tuesday, Fiske said the union's contract isn't clear on that point - but he said federal labor law does allow a sympathy strike. He said flight attendants could still conduct a strike vote before Aug. 20 if the union calls for one.
Besides asking the FAA to look into the training of flight attendants, the PFAA has asked a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order stopping the training.
Also Tuesday, the Star Tribune reported that Northwest plans to use 1,000 replacement mechanics in the event of a strike, according to a contingency plan obtained by the newspaper.
It said the replacement mechanics would be used in the Twin Cities, Detroit and Memphis for daily work required to keep the fleet running. The memo, dated in late July, said the goal is to ''operate at 100 percent of scheduled service'' if the mechanics union goes on strike.
''We are not cutting corners. This is business as usual,'' the memo said.
Northwest officials told the newspaper it was ''unfortunate'' that it had obtained a copy of the strike operations plan.
Shares in Eagan-based Northwest dropped 20 cents to $4.71 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, down from a high for the year of $11.83.
