Northwest Pilots Criticize Executives for Poor Management

The union that represents Northwest Airlines pilots issued Friday a “vote of no confidence” against the executives of the embattled carrier.

In a unanimously approved statement, the union’s executive council said, “Northwest pilots have little or no confidence in the manner in which Northwest is being managed,” the Star Tribune reported.

The resolution is not legally binding, but it reflects the strained relationship between Northwest and its employees.  The Eagan-based carrier exited a 20-months-long bankruptcy just over two weeks ago, but the fanfare was quickly rolled back by the board’s decision to give $300 million in perks to the company’s top executives. 

Frustrated by successive pay cuts, many employees are angry with that news. A spokesman for Northwest’s chapter of Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) told the Star Tribune that pilots “didn’t give up 40 percent of our pay and commit to a severely degraded lifestyle to watch it be squandered by poor management.”