Flight attendants announced on Tuesday that they would conduct random, unannounced strikes beginning at 10:01 p.m. on Aug. 15 unless Northwest backs off the new contract it imposed Monday after workers voted down a negotiated agreement. The union says its workers cannot be forced to work under terms they did not agree to. Northwest says that it had a bankruptcy judge's permission to impose those terms, and that any strike is barred by the Railway Labor Act, which governs airline labor. Northwest has said it will seek a court order to stop a strike or any other job actions.
See "Northwest Flight Attendants Threaten to Strike", Associated Press, The New York Times, August 1, 2006