POOR WORKER MORALE DOESN'T HELP IN A CRISIS.

Crain's Detroit Business, January, 1999

Could the mess Jan. 3 at Detroit Metropolitan Airport have been avoided? Maybe not. But we can't help comparing the high absenteeism among Northwest Airlines employees to the 95 percent turnout of Wayne County employees and those at other, functioning airlines. The finger-pointing between Northwest and the Wayne County operators of the airport focused on snowplowing and snow removal.

But from all eyewitness accounts, including passengers trying to find luggage once their planes actually docked at a gate, Northwest was trying to operate basic services with too few employees. Northwest pegs the absentee rate about about 50 percent; insiders think it was much higher. That gave rise to a nasty rumor that the employee shortage was actually a work...