Mar 1, 2006 9:24 am US/Central
Good Question: Why Not Strike A Deal?
by Ben Tracy
(WCCO)
Pilots at Northwest Airlines voted to walk the picket line and may strike to land a new contract, but travel experts said if the pilots go, the airline goes under and no one has a job.
So with so much at risk, why not strike a deal?
"We should be able to reach agreement at the bargaining table," said Capt. Mark McClain, chairman of the pilots' union for Northwest Airlines, in a recent interview. "We should be able to, because the survival of Northwest depends on it."
"There's certainly reasons to believe that," said David Larson, who teaches negotiation at Hamline University.
Larson believes it is a game of "economic chicken". If the pilots lose and strike, Northwest will lose everything.
Larson said trust has also been a big issue.
"The pilots have watched one union after another come along and go into negotiation and seen what's happen to the workers so even before they begin their negotiation, they're not having much trust for the employer," Larson said.
Larson added that trust with the other side you are negotiating with is tremendously important, because you will never know everything that they know. At some point, you have to believe what the other is saying.
Many Northwest employees have resentment.
"There's a history here with Northwest Airlines," said Larson.
Workers are asked for pay cuts when former executives, including Al Checchi, have left the airline with hundreds of millions of dollars.
"And they're holding current management responsible for that," Larson explained.
Faced with losing half their pay, pilots have had to ask if a deal is a worthwhile option.
"If you're the pilots, you may push to the point of brinkmanship and say that 'I've got very little to lose here,'" Larson said. "And at that point, you may stand firm and say that 'I can't stand any more cuts and if it goes down, you're going down too.'"
When both sides are faced with losing everything, a settlement, no matter the terms, may be the best option.
"This settlement may look bad for both sides, but the last thing you should consider is the best alternative to this settlement and the best alternative here is basically the company going out of business," Larson said.
Larson said the fact that Northwest is in bankruptcy court has likely strained the negotiations. Pilots may not feel they have as much leverage, knowing the bankruptcy judge could throw out their current contracts and impose new terms.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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