Ratified contract averts United Airlines strike
By Dave Carpenter
Associated Press
CHICAGO — United Airlines mechanics and aircraft cleaners approved a contract yesterday that will give them their first raise since 1994 and end a two-year dispute.
The contract was ratified by 59 percent of the voting membership, union officials said.
The approval averted a strike that could have started as early as this evening.
Analysts have said a walkout could have forced United into bankruptcy. The ratification removes a key obstacle for the struggling carrier as it pursues a financial recovery plan.
Three weeks ago, the 12,800 mechanics and cleaners resoundingly rejected another version of the contract and authorized a strike. United then sweetened the terms of the five-year pact and negotiators reached a tentative agreement Feb. 18, barely 36 hours before a walkout.
The Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based airline lost an industry-record $2.1 billion last year and its troubles have continued. The carrier said yesterday that passenger traffic in February fell 13.8 percent from a year ago.
Under the new contract, senior mechanics' pay will go from $25.60 an hour to $35.14 per hour, or about $73,000 a year. For top-scale aircraft cleaners, hourly pay will increase 19 percent to $19.76, for about $41,000 a year.
Those figures were unchanged from the previous offer, crafted by a presidential emergency board. But United made concessions to win yesterday's ratification by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
The airline increased the retroactive pay due each mechanic to $16,500 from $12,500, speeded up the timetable under which it will be paid, boosted pensions slightly and agreed that workers would retain the right to vote on concessions envisioned as part of United's emergency recovery plan.
Some mechanics disagreed with the amount or timing of retroactive wages for work since the contract came up for renewal in July 2000. Retroactive pay won't begin until December.
Moving to ensure approval, United went to court last week to remove another sore spot with mechanics — an injunction it obtained last year in an effort to end work slowdowns.
