Look for the union label

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One week from today, I will be flying to Kenya. The first two legs of the journey will be on Northwest Airlines (or “NWA,” as they now market themselves), while the third leg will be on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, a marketing partner of NWA. So you can just imagine how thrilled I am that financially-troubled Northwest is facing major labor unrest right smack-dab in the middle of our trip. Flight attendants have threatened to begin random, unannounced strikes on August 15. NWA, which is under bankruptcy protection, has imposed new contract terms unilaterally after its previous proposals were rejected by the union. The flight attendants say that’s illegal, while NWA says it would be illegal for the attendants to strike under the anachronistically-named Railway Labor Act.

Here’s hoping we still have an airline on which to fly home from Amsterdam, and that I can still use my frequent flyer miles to visit my brother and his family next year.

  • http://aunt-em.blogspot.com/ Auntie Em

    Noooo! Not now! I’ll be praying that you don’t get stuck in Amsterdam, but if you do, call me…I have a friend in the Netherlands. Vera is a dear person who speaks English and Dutch perfectly. She was born in the States and grew up in Holland, near Haarlem. She’s sweltering in the heat over there right now. They don’t have air-conditioning and have had record-breaking heat. She told me this morning that they finally have had some rain and lower temps.

  • http://aunt-em.blogspot.com/ Auntie Em

    Noooo! Not now! I'll be praying that you don't get stuck in Amsterdam, but if you do, call me…I have a friend in the Netherlands. Vera is a dear person who speaks English and Dutch perfectly. She was born in the States and grew up in Holland, near Haarlem. She's sweltering in the heat over there right now. They don't have air-conditioning and have had record-breaking heat. She told me this morning that they finally have had some rain and lower temps.