Northwest Airlines bailed-out on the backs of working people

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MINNEAPOLIS-Northwest Airlines sustained massive profit losses when it was forced into a summer air-fare war with its competitors.

After the war's conclusion, Northwest CEOs had to come clean with the working people of Minnesota and admit that Northwest was in deep financial trouble.

Northwest's disclosure of its massive debt and profit losses was by no means a startling revelation. It was common knowledge in U.S. financial circles that Northwest was virtually insolvent and in danger of going bankrupt. There wasn't a creditor in the country willing to lend the company a flat dime for its continued survival. But Northwest found a willing lender-the state of Minnesota.

Minnesota lawmakers-Democrats and Republicans-lent Northwest $759 million. In return, the company promised to build two Airbus maintenance bases up in the Iron Range, in northern Minnesota, creating 3000 jobs for this depressed area. But Northwest has placed these maintenance bases on the back burner. And so far, Minnesota's lawmakers have declared no intentions to recover the money.

Adding insult to injury, Northwest CEOs, Al Checci and John Dasburg, are demanding concessions from Northwest workers. This is a last ditch effort to finance the nearly bankrupt airline before the courts step in and confiscates its assets.

But Northwest employees are hesitant MINNEAPOLIS-The school board here faces the prospect of a legal challenge to its policy of denying equal access to public schools for homeless children, who should be attending school in grades one through six.

People Serving People (PSP), a grassroots organization, is trying to establish the right of all children to receive a full education.

Over the past four years, a shelter operated by PSP for homeless families with children, has had to settle for a two-and-a-half hour This is in lieu of the children getting a full day's education. The excuse for this is that these youngsters are supposedly "impossible to educate." About 95 percent of them are Black.

At a recent school board meeting, it was reported that the PSP administration had shifted away from attempting to improve the quality of education within the framework of a one-room-schoolhouse. Instead, it was demanding that its children-in-residence have access to public schools on the same basis as other Minneapolis residents.

Last fall, the PSP administration set up a program of its own because the Learning Center did not have qualified teachers and did not serve all of the children who should be enrolled in grades one through six.

The instructors who worked with these children told the administration that most of them were quite capable of handling course work offered in the regular schools, and some of them ought to be considered for placement in the most advanced courses offered by the school district for their grade level.

PSP plans to use its space for after-school, evening, and weekend programs, and will put every effort into seeing that the schools "mainstream" these children, as the law requires.

PPS is basing its demand for "mainstreaming" on the grounds that to deny equal access public schools for homeless children is a violation the federal McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, amended by Public Law 101-645 in 1990. Section 721 (3) of this act states: "Homelessness alone should not be sufficient reason to separate students from the mainstream school environment." about giving concessions to Checci and Dasburg.

This is especially true after seeing their fellow workers at Western Airlines and Republic Airlines lose their jobs after accepting concession contracts. Many former Republic Airline workers are employed at Northwest today.

A "partnership" with the bosses?

Unfortunately, the trade-union leaders representing Northwest workers aren't as wise as their members. The union "tops" remain committed to the strangling concept of a "partnership" between labor and big business.

The heads of the Teamsters (IBT), International Association of Machinists (IAM), and Airline Pilots Association (ALPA), have promised John Dasburg to review his concession proposals. These officials have already allowed Northwest to lay off 810 pilots, mechanics, and salespeople without a bleat of protest.

Minnesota lawmakers and Northwest Airlines have waged a sophisticated propaganda campaign to inveigle taxpayers and Northwest employees into shouldering the huge costs needed to bail out the carrier. They claim that if Northwest goes out of business, then Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport could lose its valuable position as an airline hub-and 30,000 families could lose all or part of their incomes.

These conjectures could come true if Northwes it were allowed to collapse without intervention by the trade unions.

By rights, Northwest should not receive one red cent of tax money from the state. The $759 million already "loaned" should be returned to the social programs it was looted from.

Not too long ago, the St. Paul, Minn., Pioneer Press admitted that Northwest Airlines has "$759 million dollars of our money that could be better spent on child immunization programs in the schools."

Open the books!

Northwest Airlines should be forced to open its account ledger so its employees and the public can see where all the money we've given them has gone. Ultimately, if the current owners can't meet the corporation's debts, it should be nationalized and placed under the control of the workers.

In the meantime, the trade unions have an obligation to fight against the layoffs and wage a fight against the concessions currently being imposed on their members.

The scandalous Northwest loan is not an isolated incident involving bungling politicians and crooked business leaders. It is part and parcel of a long-term program to use the taxing powers of the federal and state governments to bail out corporations and banks that would otherwise collapse from normal competition and irresponsible speculation.

The memory of the CIO industrial organizing of the 1930s is still fresh in the minds of U.S. capitalists. They can't allow corporations to shut down and throw milAmerican workers are hungry and desperate, they are capable of fighting with a vengeance for a big hunk of the capitalists' protits.

Wall Street has an instinctive fear that the American working class might cast off the parasitic CEO's and bankers and expropriate the industries and banks and operate them by themselves. This is a real danger if another Depression sets in.

This is why the Democratic and Republican party politicians are absolutely committed to bailing out U.S. capital at the expense of the working class.

The Democrats generally control the city and state governments nationwide. It has been the Democrats, at least as much as the Republicans, who have looted social programs and schools. This money has been turned over to the federal government to dispense with it as they will. After a brief time lag, this stolen money is placed back into the hands of corporations and banks. This whole process is done under the guise of cutbacks and budget shortages.

To further mask this thievery from the public, the Democrats condemn the Republicans for cutting spending on social programs.

But these rhetorical attacks are usually hurled during election campaigns. Once in office, the Democrats have the leaders of trade unions and people's organizations securely tucked away in their pockets. Then, they proceed once again to initiate police attacks on striking workers, take away civil rights and gut social programs.

The utter collapse of Minnesota's social programs, and the specter of 30,000 Northwest employees out of work and hungry, might trigger a revolt against the Northwest bailout.

The day is coming soon when Minnesota's working people, supported by the organized labor movement, will intervene in their own name and stop this insane program of "welfare" for the rich.