Northwest Airlines said Thursday that it was considering giving permanent jobs to the 1,500 substitute workers it hired to replace striking mechanics. If all were hired, that would lock out the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which struck the airline one week ago. In response, the union's executive director, O. V. Delle-Femine, said the airline was risking a clash between striking workers and the replacements who took their jobs.
See "Northwest Airlines Threatens to Replace Strikers Permanently", Micheline Maynard and Jeremy W. Peters, The New York Times, August 25, 2005