Two Big Labor Battles at UAL With AFA & IBT Reach an End at United

Two Big Labor Battles at UAL With AFA & IBT Reach an End at United
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/13/business/united-and-continental-flight...
By REUTERSAUG. 12, 2016

United flight attendants protested in June at Newark’s Liberty Airport. Fifty-three percent of those voting approved the new contract. CreditRichard Perry/The New York Times
United Continental Holdings said on Friday it had reached labor deals with its flight attendants and its mechanics, whose relations with the airline were strained in recent years as the parties struggled to conclude contract talks.

Flight attendants at the airline voted to approve a contract that will raise their wages between 18 and 31 percent in September, their union said on Friday. About 53 percent of those who voted backed the deal.

Separately, negotiators from the airline and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters reached a labor deal in the last round of United States mediated talks on schedule, the parties said in a joint statement on Friday. They said they must still complete contract language, after which it will become a so-called tentative agreement that the carrier’s 9,000 mechanics can vote to ratify or reject.

Both announcements

represent an important step toward integrating United and Continental and reducing flight cancellations.

Maintenance technicians from United have yet to mix their operations with those from Continental. The same holds true for flight attendants.

For instance, cumbersome rules meant that, for flight crews, United cannot bring in reserve employees from pre-merger Continental if the staff shortage is on a pre-merger United aircraft. This will ultimately change for mechanics and flight attendants under the new contract.

United ranked lowest among United States and Canadian rivals in 2016 in customer satisfaction, according to a J. D. Power study.

“What this means is hopefully a much more reliable United, a much more on-time United and hopefully also a more pleasant United for its customers to fly,” said Henry Harteveldt, founder of the travel consultancy Atmosphere Research Group.

With their new contract, the airline and the flight attendants union said they now expected to integrate flight crews within 12 to 18 months.

That agreement was reached by the airline and union in June under the guidance of the National Mediation Board after months of protests by flight attendants and years of talks. In addition to pay raises, the contract provides better health care and job protection, the union said.

The ratification represented a victory for United’s new chief executive officer, Oscar Munoz, who has sought harmony with workers at the airline, the third-largest United States carrier in passenger traffic. United shares were down less than 1 percent.

“The contract provides immediate economic gains, sets a new industry standard and ensures flight attendants can achieve the benefits of a fully integrated airline,” Sara Nelson, international president of the union, said in a statement.

More than 90 percent of eligible workers voted, the union said.

Furloughs by the airline after the merger had angered employees, but that dissipated beginning in 2014 when United offered voluntary buyouts that more than 2,500 employees accepted.

Mr. Munoz said in a statement he was helping “turn the page and write a new chapter in our approach to labor and management relations at United,” alluding to deals he helped secure for pilots, gate agents and baggage handlers.