Machinists Respond to NWA Shareholder Vote

IAM members were an unmistakable presence both inside and outside meetings today in New York and Atlanta, where shareholders of Northwest Airlines voted to approve the airline’s merger with Delta Airlines.

Carrying signs that said “Save My Airline from Another Bankruptcy,” and marching in the shadow of a large inflatable rat, the morning rally in New York drew honks of support from passing motorists and thumbs up from pedestrians on their way to work. The IAM opposes the proposed merger as a debt-laden, job-killing boondoggle with the potential to bankrupt the combined enterprise.

“The Machinists Union believes Northwest and Delta will be unable to successfully combine their businesses without adversely impacting customers, suppliers, employees and shareholders because of the two airlines’ vastly different corporate cultures and mismatched aircraft fleets,” said Transportation GVP Robert Roach, Jr., who took part in the New York protest.

“The same lack of regulation that unhinged our financial markets has created cyclical havoc in the airline industry for the past 30 years, leading to countless airline bankruptcies,” said Roach. “The government must stop treating symptoms and start curing the illness plaguing the airline industry. Mergers will not help troubled airlines; sane federal regulation of the industry will.”

More information about the Machinists Union and the proposed Northwest/Delta merger is available at www.goiam.org/mergers.