TOUGH LUCK: A flight attendant battling a chronic disease-and her airline

[Bluebear]

The $20 million Northwest Airlines has reportedly been spending to prepare for a strike by the firm's union mechanics later this month will be difficult to recoup in this brutally competitive deregulated market of airplane travel. Ironically, the company's desire to absorb the cost of a prolonged strike in order to roll back wages for its mechanics may explain the hard line it is taking toward disability payments for other segments of its union workforce. One case in point is the behavior of the locally based airline toward a chronically ill veteran flight attendant living in Maple Grove....

Huff has been a flight attendant for nearly 35 years, and became a Northwest employee when the company merged with Republic in 1986. In 1999, after experiencing bouts of serious fatigue, she was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease in which the body manufactures antibodies against its own tissues. After being sidelined for four months, Huff resolved to cope with this chronic--but not always debilitating--disorder, and returned to work. But on September 19, 2003, her condition was exacerbated when a large woman Huff was helping into a wheelchair grabbed the back of her head while falling over.

Huff hasn't flown since. She began suffering from severe back and neck spasms and tremors in her hands. All these aspects of her disorder have steadily worsened, to the point where she needs a walker to move about the house and a motorized scooter when she goes outside. Nine months after the accident, she was forced to sell what she describes as her "dream house," complete with an acre of land, in Fridley, and then eventually her car as well. She is now in a senior co-op apartment, relying on her daughter to do the grocery shopping. Tasks that used to take minutes, such as getting dressed in the morning, now can take more than an hour. At age 56, she has developed premature heart problems and memory loss. Huff also suffers from depression....

Northwest also has dug in its heels against Huff's attempt to secure a disability-related pension from the company. Huff was just 54 at the time of her accident, a crucial year short of the minimum age needed to retire with full pension benefits. Because Northwest has denied her disability claim, Huff will lose 55 percent of her pension benefits if she is not able to return to work and thus "resigns" from the airline before age 55....

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[Puglover]

1. I don't know the 1st thing about this however....

I have worked for NWA for 26 years and I think out of the 26 I've had Xmas day off maybe 6 or 7 times. As ground people we hear and deal with the hundreds of flight attendant (and pilot) sick calls. They simply feel they SHOULD be off to be with their families or whatever,no worries, some junior reserve will take their trips. However their are no junior reserves due to the hundreds of sick calls during the holiday season. So flights cancel due to no crews and people are pissed and wonder why oh why can't NWA get it's act together. I have seen so many abuses of LTD in my years of employment and it's truly unfuckingbelievable. And before you jump down my throat I have had my share of "mental health" days.

But a day or two here and there is vastly different from LTD. EVERYONE I know who has put in for LTD has got it. Period. The company (while being such assholes sometimes) has in 100 percent of my experience been WONDERFUL to people with an injury or a chronic ailment.

So again I do NOT know this womans situation but given my observation of how the company treats legitimate cases of LTD there is more here then meets the eye.

[Bluebear]

2. Based on my observations they are sticking to the book.

Putting people first is not their strong suit. The contract states that you have to fly one trip, "return to the line", and she clearly is in no shape to do that.