Agreement averts strike at United

By Dave Carpenter
Associated Press

CHICAGO — United Airlines reached a tentative contract agreement yesterday with the union representing its 12,800 mechanics and aircraft cleaners, averting by less than 36 hours a strike that could have grounded the world's second-biggest carrier.

If ratified by mechanics in a March 5 vote, the settlement would end a bitter two-year contract dispute, give the mechanics their first raise since 1994 and remove a substantial roadblock to the ailing carrier's recovery.

The mechanics were preparing to strike starting at 12:01 a.m. EST tomorrow.

United chief executive Jack Creighton called the accord "a critical milestone in developing a recovery plan that meets the needs of passengers, preserves jobs and puts the company on the road to financial stability."

But labor tranquillity, if achieved, would come at a considerable cost. In addition to granting the same 37 percent raises voted down by mechanics last week, the tentative pact would, through the application of so-called license premiums, make more of them eligible for top-scale pay which is being bumped up from $25.60 an hour to $35.14, or about $73,000 a year.

It also would improve retirement benefits, the union said, and move up the payment of retroactive pay for work dating to July 2001 by 3 1/2 months.

Retro wages totaling several hundred million dollars would be paid in quarterly installments beginning Dec. 15 and lasting until Oct. 15, 2004, instead of from 2003-05.