Northwest Airlines pilots have given their union leader authority to conduct a strike ballot if there is no progress in negotiations over wage and benefit cuts the airline is seeking, the union head told a New York bankruptcy court Friday. Mark McClain, chairman of the pilots union's master executive council, testified that employees do not want a strike but acrimony between the airline has grown "over time."
See "Northwest Pilots Give OK on Strike Vote Call", Associated Press, The New York Times, February 2, 2006