Northwest pilots made similar pledges when KLM pilots threatened to strike in 1995 and 1997. Northwest is in contract talks with all six of its unions. The airline's workers took large concessions in 1993 when the company faced a financial crisis. Now, with the company making large profits, management is demanding further concessions. Northwest has proposed a five-year contract linking its pilot pay to average pilot salaries at the three largest airlines.
Management also wants to expand the current two-tier wage system.
The Air Line Pilots Association, which voted last month to authorize a strike, rejected the proposal and calls for pay increases totaling 27 percent over five years. McDonald's workers want union Two young workers who led the first strike in the United States against a McDonald's facility have asked the National Labor Relations Board to allow a unionization vote at the suburban Cleveland, Ohio restaurant. The workers submitted 21 union authorization cards to the NLRB, enough to force a representation election among the Macedonia, Ohio restaurant's 40 nonmanagement employees. The workers are seeking representation by the Teamsters. About 20 restaurant employees, nearly all of them high school or college students, went on strike in April.