Jun 7, 2006 10:46 am US/Central
NWA Workers Lobby Congressional Members
Minneapolis (AP) ―
Gate agents and flight attendants for Northwest Airlines have been lobbying members of Congress as the lawmakers fly between Capitol Hill and their home states.
Employees of the bankrupt airline have been urging the lawmakers to let the airline stretch out its $3.7 billion in pension obligations over 20 years, chief Northwest lobbyist Andrea Fischer Newman told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.
Among those targeted so far are Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Minnesota Republican Reps. Jim Ramstad and John Kline, Newman said.
"Obviously, our employees know who these people are, and so they stop them and say something," she said.
The airline and its labor unions also have enlisted thousands of employees to phone or e-mail lawmakers for an airline exemption in pension reform legislation pending before a conference committee.
Northwest Chief Executive Officer Doug Steenland wrote in a letter Monday to House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, that without the provision, Northwest will terminate pension plans for more than 70,000 current and former workers.
The resulting federal takeover, he wrote, would jeopardize "retirement security" for many of those employees.
In his letter, Steenland urged Boehner to redouble efforts "to break the logjam that has delayed this legislation since March and which now threatens to undercut the progress we have made to restore our airline to financial health."
Northwest employees are hoping that they can preserve their full pensions.
In an e-mail to Ramstad Monday, Northwest employee Julie Wallfred of Wayzata, a 20-year worker, said she represents those "who have made difficult decisions to stay at these companies and risk our pension assets out of loyalty to our company, our product and our customers.
"We are collectively counting on Congress to reach an agreement on the pension reform bill and to include the airline provision."
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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