|
United strike averted
|
 |
February 18, 2002: 2:38 p.m. ET
Tentative contract means mechanics won't walk off the job Wednesday.
|
CHICAGO (CNN) - United Airlines reached a tentative contract agreement with the union representing 13,000 mechanics, averting a strike threatened for midnight Wednesday.
The settlement came less than a week after members of District 141M of the International Association of Machinists rejected an offer by the airline that would have given top mechanics a 37 percent pay raise.
That proposal was the result of recommendations by a Presidential Emergency Board, which was empaneled in an effort to avert a strike.
Monday's deal comes after more than two years of negotiations and just two days before the union's Feb. 20 strike deadline. Airline analysts said a strike could have thrown the struggling airline into bankruptcy, but few had expected one to happen.
Neither the airline nor the machinists' union provided specific details of the agreement, scheduled for ratification voting on March 5.
In a statement, the union said the new agreement includes improvements over the previous proposal in areas including retirement benefits, application of license premiums, and a plan for retroactive pay.
The union also said a "linkage letter" requiring its participation in an unspecified recovery plan was modified to allow union members to vote on the plan's terms.
A process to expedite the next round of negotiations also is included in the tentative pact, the union said.
"Our negotiators worked aggressively for more than two years," IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger said in the statement. "Now the most important people involved in these negotiations, our members, will have the final say."
Jack Creighton, chief executive officer of United's parent UAL Corp. (UAL: Research, Estimates), issued a statement calling the agreement "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." 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
