Minnesota Unions to Hold August 9 Unity Rally to Stand Up Against Northwest Airlines

BLOOMINGTON, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 8, 2005--The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association Local 33 invites all Minnesota unionists and union supporters to join a Union Unity Rally to stand up against union-busting by Northwest Airlines.

WHAT:  Rally of Minnesota unions to stand up against Northwest 
       Airlines union-busting

WHEN:  4:00 p.m., Tuesday, August 9, 2005

WHERE: Front steps of the State Capitol Building, Saint Paul

WHY:   To oppose union-busting initiatives by Northwest Airlines

"For Northwest to demand 53% job cuts is the most blatant union-busting technique that I can think of," said Ted Ludwig, AMFA Local 33 President, "the company knows that asking over half of our members to vote away their jobs is a sure way to guarantee a strike. They want to force us out and use the 1,000 non-union replacement workers they have already hired. We cannot allow them to succeed.

“This is not solely our struggle. Northwest has demanded that flight attendants train additional 'replacement workers' if they honor our picket lines. The company has also contracted with a temp agency to replace ticket agents and baggage handlers”

"This is not solely our struggle. Northwest has demanded that flight attendants train additional 'replacement workers' if they honor our picket lines. The company has also contracted with a temp agency to replace ticket agents and baggage handlers," said Ludwig.

As part of its comprehensive union-busting strategy, the company has also contracted with Vance Security International, the country's most notorious anti-union security force that has busted unions and unionists' heads for more than two decades.

"Northwest's current actions are particularly egregious examples of the anti-union tactics used against our union brothers and sisters by the corporate world. It is only through solidarity that we can preserve the gains that unions have made, and preserve middle class America," said Ludwig.