NORTHWEST AIRLINES

[guerrillero]

My dad worked as an airline mechanic for 24 years and was also part of a union that fought for them to get better pay and benefits.. While my dad and thousands of others were on strike, Northwest was quick to replace them and have filed for bankruptcy.. If the airline fails to succeed, my dad will be screwed in collecting retirement... My dad is one of thousands of americans that have lost their jobs since post 9-11. Did capitalism fail my Dad and all the other NW mechanics? How does everybody view this?

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Northwest Strike Continues
In the U.S., 4,400 mechanics, cleaners, and custodians have been on strike against Northwest Airlines since August 19. The strikers, members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), have rejected the company's demands of 25 percent pay cuts, pension freezes, and layoffs of half of the unionized workforce.

Northwest has since filed for bankruptcy protection and announced plans for even more cuts, including laying off 1,290 pilots and calls for a 28 percent salary cut (on top of an earlier 15 percent) for those that remain. The company is also now demanding $83 million more in concessions from the machinists, including a possible layoff of 6,500.

Northwest vice president for labor relations Julie Hagen Showers threatened the International Association of Machinists, saying they “must cut a deal fast” or the company will ask the bankruptcy court to tear up their contracts and impose the company's own terms.

Flight attendants employed by Northwest are also facing around 2,640 layoffs, this in addition to an early announcement of the elimination of 1,400 jobs and a 20 percent pay reduction.

Ted Ludwig, president of AMFA Local 33 explained the situation. “In the months leading up to the strike, you could feel the tension, nobody wanted to talk, people had their heads down, unhappy at having to work for a tyrant; but when we went on strike you could see the joy and sense of relief as the membership finally felt that we were standing up for what was right and against the abuse,” he said. “The other workers on the property are staring at the same type of abuse and the right thing to do is to stand up to it now.”

Over one hundred representatives of several unions recently contributed $6,000 at a fund-raising rally in support of the striking workers held in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Bernie Hess, a UFCW Local 789 organizer who opened the event told those present “Let us know how we can help. We are in it with you for the long haul!”

http://freepeoplesmovement.org/fp15m.html

[h&s]

My dad is one of thousands of americans that have lost their jobs since post 9-11. Did capitalism fail my Dad and all the other NW mechanics? How does everybody view this?

Yes your father, like millions of others, has been failed by capitalism (though of course capitalism is not there to support any worker).
Capitalism means that the means of production and all industry, and all employment are in the hands of private individuals, out for profit. This means that when the economy does not favour one particular 'venture' (as capitalists see it), they will pull out from it, condemning all the workes to redundancy.

"The fundamental evil of the capitalist system is not the extravagance of the possessing classes, however disgusting that may be in itself, but the fact that in order to guarantee its right to extravagance the bourgeoisie maintains its private ownership of the means of production, thus condemning the economic system to anarchy and decay."(Trotsky)

Under a workers state, the actual workers would run the industrys themselves, giving us all job security, and a better share of what we all produce.