Sunday, July 27, 2008

Northwest to layoff 2,500


"As you know, our fall schedule will be reduced by 8.5% - 9.5% versus the fourth quarter of 2007.
This includes the reductions previously announced in April.As a result, Northwest Airlines announced today that it will reduce its frontline and management employees by 2,500. These reductions are the direct result of our extraordinary fuel costs and the necessary actions we must take to right-size our airline and eliminate unprofitable flying.

In an effort to reach this reduction by voluntary means, the following is a summary of how each employee group will have the opportunity to voluntarily meet the reduction target.

· IAM represented employees will be eligible to apply for a limited number of early out opportunities based on seniority, classification and customer and operational needs at each location/station and may be also be eligible for lifetime retiree pass privileges under the one-time voluntary “Rule of 60” pass travel program. There will also be SLIP leave opportunities in Airport Operations.
· Flight Attendants have recently completed an early out program and are also participating in the previously announced SLIP leave program.
· Pilots may participate through voluntary programs including a targeted Pilot Early Retirement Program (PERP), a SLIP leave program and a Partial Month Leave (PML) program.
· All other employees, including management, are expected to achieve their goals through attrition and through the elimination of open non-operationally critical positions.The IAM program details will be available soon on RADAR, within the Employee Resource Center, which can be found under Featured Links.

I am pleased that we are offering the means to achieve this headcount reduction goal through voluntary programs. Each department will only evaluate the possibility of layoffs if voluntary programs do not sufficiently reduce staffing overages.

Thank you for your continued support as we work together to help control costs and increase our revenue given the unprecedented oil prices.

Doug Steenland
President and CEO

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