AMFA Says Strikebreakers Who Leave Northwest Report Maintenance Disarray and Safety Concerns.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) officials said today that some union members who returned to work during the current strike have left their jobs because of serious concerns about maintenance safety at Northwest Airlines. E[acute accent]According to AMFA National Safety and Standards Director John Glynn, "Two former strikebreakers who quit their jobs at Northwest just within the past week told me that maintenance practices there are still in such disarray that the situation raises serious safety concerns they were unwilling to tolerate. E[acute accent]"Soon after they decided to cross the picket lines and return to work, they were assigned to find tools to build up carbon seals on gearboxes and were alarmed by what they saw," Glynn said. "There were incompletely installed engines in the shop with parts hanging from them, which in itself is not alarming, but there was no paperwork anywhere to document what was supposed to be happening with the engines. When they asked a manager about the engines, he said some were going onto live aircraft and others back to the leasing company for major overhaul or disposal, but there was no paperwork to identify which was which. In addition to that, the right tools for the jobs they were assigned were unavailable. E[acute accent]"I made the FAA inspector aware of these facts. It's a serious safety concern because people come to this area for parts for live aircraft all the time, and they have no way of knowing which parts are in working order. I immediately reported this situation to the FAA inspector," he said. E[acute accent]Glynn said one of the strikebreakers discussed the situation with a replacement worker who has worked at Northwest since the AMFA strike began on August 20. "The replacement worker said he could not believe how Northwest was trying to operate with this lack of tools and paperwork. E[acute accent]"It was no surprise to us that Northwest came in dead last among 20 airlines in the Department of Transportation's rankings for September on-time performance. While Northwest is telling people on-time performance and maintenance are back to normal, the truth is very different. As airline analyst Terry Trippler told the Detroit News, 'It has to be the strike.'" E[acute accent]The U.S. Department of Transportation is conducting an investigation into maintenance safety at Northwest Airlines, based on serious allegations reported by one of the FAA's most experienced inspectors. The FAA itself is conducting a separate investigation based on the same allegations. "I wish the FAA also ranked airlines on maintenance safety, so the public would know what's been going on," Glynn said. E[acute accent]AMFA's craft union represents aircraft maintenance technicians and related support personnel at Alaska Airlines, ATA, Horizon Air, Independence Airlines, Mesaba Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. AMFA's credo is "Safety in the air begins with quality maintenance on the ground." To learn more about AMFA, visit www.amfanatl.org.