Flight attendants set Northwest strike for Friday

As [% 1300832 | | reported last week %], Northwest’s flight attendants are poised to begin random work disruptions as soon as Friday, August 25, to protest the airline’s imposition of harsh salary and benefits cuts.

The flight attendants received the go-ahead to proceed with their strike plans from a federal judge, against the airline’s strenuous objections.

Predictably, Northwest filed an appeal, seeking to have the judge’s decision reversed, or at least to put the union’s action on hold while an appeal worked its way through the judicial system.

Unaccountably, the appeals court declined to hear the case until Friday, just nine hours before the potentially devastating strike could commence.

With the appeals court refusing to rule on Northwest’s request until the 11th hour and airline management and the flight attendants’ union refusing to resume negotiations, the real loser is the traveling public.

And that should put any consumer advocate in scold mode: C’mon guys, try placing the good of the many above your own narrow self-interest.