Northwest Airlines Recalls Employees
By KARREN MILLS
AP Business Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - Northwest Airlines is recalling about 120 union employees who normally remove ice from planes to help relieve management people making security checks at the gate before passengers board planes.
"They'll start as quickly as they can get back on the payroll and start doing the training. I'm sure we'll see it sometime this week," spokeswoman Kathy Peach said Monday.
The workers are trained in de-icing, which usually begins around mid-November at northern airports, but will handle security until Northwest begins de-icing operations, she said.
The recall of unionized employees on furlough is the second for Northwest in the past week.
On Friday, Northwest said it had recalled 170 quality service employees, the red-jacketed workers who answer questions and send Northwest travelers to the right check-in line. They also were recalled to help with increased security ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA, which called for additional security after hijacked airplanes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, ordered even higher security when the United States began bombing Afghanistan.
Though the security assignment meant a return to work, the union representing the quality service employees wasn't thrilled by the assignment. John Massetti, a spokesman for IAM District 143, said the union was concerned that its people might not be properly trained for the work.
The airline hopes the additional security people will reduce the time it takes for passengers to clear security.
Northwest cut its service by 20 percent and has eliminated about 9,500 positions since the attacks as many passengers stopped flying.
Anderson said people are continuing to return to the air, but slowly.
October results through Thursday showed 68 percent of the seats on Northwest's domestic flights were full, he said. However, it was more than 80 percent before the attacks and before Northwest cut its service.
|