Last fall the flight attendants rejected a new company contract offer by a 2-to-1 margin. Leading up to the vote, the Teamster members held a wide-ranging discussion in union meetings and over the Internet, set up information booths, and organized rallies about the issues in their fight.

One comment on a flight attendant web site said of the judge's ruling, "First amendment. [Web site sponsor] is a private company. Anything can be said on it."

Karen Schulz, a veteran flight attendant at NWA, said in an interview that use of Internet web sites by flight attendants helped "counter misinformation and to know what the union is doing. Flight attendants should be able to say what they want. One worker from Los Angeles is named in the lawsuit simply because of what he said on the Internet. What the company doesn't want is for flight attendants to think for themselves."

The secretary-treasurer of the union, Danny Campbell, said in an interview that the company investigation of certain sick calls is an attempt to intimidate the union and weaken solidarity.

George Martinez, a cleaner at NWA, pointed to the use of the court by the company as a propaganda weapon against the union. He has worked 10 years at Northwest and put in 13 years at Eastern Airlines before going on strike at that carrier. "There is a definite parallel with what is happening to the flight attendants and what happened to us at Eastern Airlines," he said. "[Eastern CEO Frank] Lorenzo tried to use the courts to win public opinion. He tried to make it appear that the judge was impartial, but there was no impartiality there. Of course the judge was on the side of the company. Every decision was Lorenzo's. Today, the same rules apply, only this time at Northwest."

Tom Fiske is a member of Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association Local 33.  
 
 
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