Deal returns some to Northwest

By Lynne Marek
Bloomberg News Service

Northwest Airlines Corp., which has about a fifth of its flight attendants on layoff, agreed with their union to let some of the workers return to work as more senior employees take temporary leaves.

The new program won't affect the total number of laid-off flight attendants, St. Paul, Minn.-based Northwest said in a statement. The airline has 1,960 attendants who have been furloughed and about 8,400 on the payroll, company spokeswoman Mary Stanik said.

"It's a win-win situation for everyone," Jose Arturo Ibarra, interim vice president for the Professional Flight Attendants Association, said in an interview.

The program will help staff planes during the high-traffic U.S. year-end holiday season and the winter months when workers are more likely to be sick, the union said in a statement.

Northwest, the fourth-largest U.S. airline, has cut 17,000 jobs since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, including positions eliminated this year when travel fell as the United States invaded Iraq.

The laid-off attendants will be recalled on a one-for-one basis to replace employees taking "convenience leaves."