Clearly Northwest Airlines would prefer a strike over an agreement, and it looks like they're probably going to get their wish.

Clearly, they know what they're doing is wrong. If we challenge them in that situation, often they'll leave.

I'm certain that (the mechanics union negotiating committee) will reject it if we haven't (already) because it falls well short of what we need. They have failed to even start addressing some of our needs.

I'm absolutely convinced that the proposal that they made last night moved inches, where yards need to be advanced.

Their first proposal was bad; their second was horrendous.

This evening Northwest Airlines proposed what they term as their last best offer. This offer reflects Northwest Airlines' consistent extreme position and leaves us with little hope of reaching a deal before tomorrow evening's strike deadline.

This is going to take some time. We never thought there was going to be an instantaneous effect from us walking off the job.

As opposed to their old last, best offer. Until you hear the word final, it really doesn't mean much.

As airplanes break through the normal flight day, these airplanes need to get fixed. And if these guys can't fix them they get set off to the side. We're confident that over a period of time it begins to snowball, and they're going to have a real problem maintaining their schedule.

Northwest has guaranteed a strike because their proposal is so extreme.