The airline industry continues to struggle through the turbulent economy. Jesse Russell reports:

The week started glum enough for the airline industry, with American Airlines announcing Monday that it would be slashing 7,000 jobs, or 8-percent of the company’s worldwide workforce. Wednesday the news didn’t get any better when with Northwest Airlines announcing the company would be losing as many as 2,500 jobs or roughly 8.3-percent of that company’s workforce. Many of the jobs that will be slashed at Northwest are white collar jobs that include management positions. The airline plans to start the process with voluntary layoffs, and the cuts will likely come in the fourth quarter of this year. Comair announced on Tuesday that it would be grounding 14 planes and letting go of 300 pilots and 220 flight attendants. All three airlines cite rising fuel costs as the main reason for the job cuts. Northwest said in a statement that if prices start to come down, it will revisit the decision.

By Doug Cunningham

U.S. airlines are projecting a combined loss of $10 billion this year as they struggle with the huge spike in fuel costs. In U.S. Senate testimony, the Air Transport Association’s James May said the flying public will pay the price as air service could be lost in 200 communities around the country as airlines cut back to save money. The airlines are spending 50 percent more for fuel than they did last year.

Merger talks are all the rage in the airline industry. But where do the unions representing workers come down? Jesse Russell takes a look:

While the pilots spent Thursday and Friday of last week trying to work out differences over a merger between Northwest and Delta Airlines, the International Association of Machinists, representing Northwest baggage handlers, said it will oppose the two players coming together. In a statement, the IAM said that airline mergers traditionally hurt passengers and workers alike. The pilots at both airlines are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, but the sticking point on their end is how senority lists at the two airlines will be combined.

Security screeners at Kansas City International Airport are expected to vote in favor of union representation this weekend making them the first organized private screeners in the country. Jesse Russell reports:

Last year the union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America, fell only a few votes short of winning representation of private security screeners at Kansas City International Airport. Four hundred seventy employees of FirstLine Transportation Security Inc. are voting between now and Saturday. The SPFPA says that because of low morale among workers due to high employee turnover and workers being forced to take on extra shifts or overtime is contributing to a positive atmosphere for unionization. On the heels of this vote is a vote by private screeners at Rochester NY Airport. Only five airports in the country use private screeners and the SPFPA is the only union that the National Labor Relations Board has certified to represent private screeners.

By Jesse Russell

As other airlines exit bankruptcy they will be also be facing new labor concerns. Delta has promised to give nonunion raises – partly to fend off attempts at unionization. Pilots at United Airlines are beginning to consider options for reopening a contract that is closed until January of 2010 now that executives at that company have received excessive compensation.

By Doug Cunningham

A bankruptcy judge has allowed Mesaba Airlines to destroy its union contracts. Flight attendants represented by the CWA say they will strike if management acts on the court’s order allowing the contracts to be tossed out.

Workers at Comair are calling into question the airlines bargaining tactics. Jesse Russell has more:

By Jesse Russell

The pilots and flight attendants have once again told the airline that while they are willing to make concessions, terms of those concessions must be "fair and consensual." In a joint statement Connie Slayback, president of the flight attendants union, said "We all want to help our airline emerge from bankruptcy and return to profitability but we have to be able to reach a deal that both the flight attendants and management can agree to." The unions have been under pressure in recent weeks to accept the concessions from the company in order to make bidding on the bankrupt airline more attractive. Comair has said that if it can’t win the bidding process the airline will most likely see large cuts.

By Doug Cunningham

Flight attendants at Mesaba Airlines have won a federal court victory that overturns an earlier decision allowing Mesaba to throw out its union contracts. Mesaba management had threatened to impose a 19.4 percent wage and benefit cut. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA called the court win a monumental victory for Mesaba workers and employees everywhere. The union says it’s time for Mesaba to drop the litigation and bargain fairly with its flight attendants.

By Doug Cunningham

A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday OK’d a Delta Air Lines request to end its pilots’ pension plan. The airline must still get permission from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to end the plan.

By Jesse Russell

With negotiations over contracts for flight attendants set to resume on June 5, Comair President Fred Buttrell has announced his resignation. Comair, a subsidiary of Delta, filed for bankruptcy protection late last year. A U.S. bankruptcy judge in New York blocked the companies attempt to throw out the flight attendants contracts and cut wages and benefits by $8.9 million. The flight attendants are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters who says they don't expect the company’s position to change even with Buttrell making an exit. Buttrell will be replac

By Doug Cunningham

Having lost in its attempt to destroy union contracts using bankruptcy laws, Comair will be back in negotiations with the Teamsters on May 11th. A thousand flight attendants at Comair are fighting to defend their families’ livelihoods against harsh demands for concessions from Comair. The union is trying to work with the airline and has offered a proposal it says will help the airline financially without devastating workers.

By Jesse Russell

Air Jamaica could be heading for a strike as the airlines more than 300 flight attendants rejected the most recent contract offer. Last week the flight attendants voted that the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union could strike if an agreement with the airline over wages could not be reached. The two sides have been in contract negotiations since last year.

By Doug Cunningham

More than a thousand Teamster represented flight attendants at Comair are still waiting for bankruptcy judge Adlai Hardin to rule on the airline’s effort to destroy their union contracts. A ruling had been expected Monday but the day passed without one. Connie Slayback is President of Teamsters Local 513 in Kentucky. He says Delta, Comair’s parent company, wants to impoverish its flight attendants.

[Connie Slayback 1]: “They would like to slash our wages and our retirement contribution pension fund and pretty much put us in the poorhouse is what it amounts to. It’s not as though we’re asking for the moon. We all make very modest livings. We don’t live in big houses or drive fancy cars. But we can’t afford what they’re asking for. And what they’re asking for isn’t fair and equitable.”

By Doug Cunningham

The Airline Pilots Association and Delta Airlines have reached a tentative labor agreement. Delta was pushing for at least $300 million more in cuts from the pilot’s union, even though the pilots gave a 32.5 percent pay cut 15 months ago.

Delta is in bankruptcy and an independent arbitrator was to make a decision by April 15 on whether or not to allow Delta to throw out the union contracts.

No details on this tentative agreement have bee released, but it appears to have averted a strike against Delta. Pilots must still vote on whether to ratify the tentative agreement. The bankruptcy court would also have to approve the deal.

By Doug Cunningham

The Airline Pilots Association is in high stakes talks with Delta Airlines as an April 15th independent arbitration deadline looms. Delta is in the process of wringing out more than $300 million in concessions from the pilots. The union agreed to a 32.5 percent pay cut just 15 months ago. The pilots’ union says if the arbitrator lets Delta throw out the union contracts it will strike. A strike could destroy Delta. Delta pilots have authorized the union to strike at any time after April 17th.

By Doug Cunningham

Delta pilots have authorized a strike if their contract is thrown out in bankruptcy court. In 2004, Delta pilots agreed to a 32.5 percent pay cut. The pilots pensions are also but the airline wants more and is trying to destroy the pilots contracts.

By Jesse Russell

Delta's newest request in bankruptcy court seeks to void nearly 93 million stock options held by current and former employees. The airline said in a motion on Monday that the stock costs $305,000 a year to maintain, while being of very little value. Recently the stocks having been trading at an average of 40 cents per share. Typically, stocks in companies that exit bankruptcy are worthless. The airline is also in court seeking to void a contract with pilots. The pilots have vowed to strike if the contract is rejected.

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Comair is the latest airline seeking to void a contract through bankruptcy court. The flight attendants are the only workers who have not agreed to concessions. Delta is the parent company for the airline. As part of a plan to stay competitive, Comair says it needs to cut $8.9 million from the flight attendants, who are represented by the Teamsters. The company is seeking $70 million dollars in cuts overall. The union asserts that the concessions would mean an average pay cut of $10,500 per worker.

Delta has fired back at pilots who have objected to proposed management severance packages on the backs of massive wage and benefit cuts for pilots. Delta said in a bankruptcy court filing that "management attended to the rest of the company first and itself last." If applied, the cost of the severance package to the airline could be anywhere from $3 million to $14 million dollars. The airline is seeking $325 million in concessions from its 6,000 pilots.

By Jesse Russell

Northwest Airlines and unions representing the pilots and flight attendants have been granted an extra week to reach contract agreements. The airline had asked Judge Allen Gropper to throw out the contracts if an agreement was not reached by Friday, but has extended the deadline to February 24. Northwest is seeking major concessions from the two unions in an attempt to reduce labor costs by $1.4 billion a year. Northwest mechanics have been on strike for nearly six months. Various unions will be meeting in front of the Minnesota State Capitol today to demand the company pay unemployment benefits to striking workers.