Union: Comair, flight attendants reach tentative agreement

<p>Comair and the union representing its 970 flight attendants said Friday that the two sides have reached a tentative agreement on wage cuts and other concessions.</p><p>The tentative agreement comes four days after Comair announced that it would impose wage cuts and changes in work rules for the regional airline's flight attendants beginning Nov. 15. Comair has said that it must have the concessions to emerge from bankruptcy.</p><p>Connie Slayback, president of Local 513 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters representing the flight attendants, said the deal would be for four years. She declined to release a dollar figure for the package of concessions, but said they included a 7.5 percent across-the-board pay cut and job protection if Comair is sold by parent Delta Air Lines before emerging from bankruptcy.</p><p>Atlanta-based Delta has said that it has no plans to sell Comair, but has not ruled out the possibility.</p><p>Like Delta, Comair is trying to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed last year.</p><p>Slayback said that the proposed agreement also calls for a total of $5.5 million in claims to be distributed among the flight attendants, but she did not elaborate.</p><p>"We recommend that our fellow flight attendants vote in favor of this proposal," said Slayback.</p><p>Results of the vote are to be announced Nov. 14, but a federal bankruptcy court would have to approve any deal. If approved, the agreement would take effect Dec. 31 unless Comair's pilots and mechanics unions reach deals with the airline before that date, Slayback said.</p><p>Tressie Long, a spokeswoman for Comair, said Friday that the company would not comment on details of the proposed agreement until the union informs its members.</p><p>"The tentative agreement would modify the current flight attendant contract fairly and equitably while helping the airline complete its restructuring," Long said. "We are pleased to reach an agreement after several months of hard work on everyone's part."</p><p>A federal bankruptcy judge in July gave Comair permission to throw out its contract with the flight attendants. The flight attendants had threatened to go on strike if Comair imposed concessions.</p><p>Comair, based in Erlanger, Ky., near Cincinnati, has said it needed $7.9 million a year in concessions from the flight attendants as part of a package of cuts from the flight attendants, pilots and mechanics.</p><p>Comair said Monday when announcing that it would impose concessions that it had tried since last November to reach a deal with the flight attendants. The company said then that even with a 7.5 percent pay cut, its flight attendants would remain the highest paid in the regional airline industry. Comair said then that the average flight attendant pay cut would be $2,250.</p><p>Slayback said Friday that the union believed the tentative deal was the best one that could be negotiated for its members.</p><p>"This is a consensual agreement," she said. "When I compare that with the alternative of having concessions imposed, I'm glad we had the chance to negotiate this deal."</p><p>Jim Hoffa, Teamsters general president, said in a statement Friday that the tentative agreement "ensures that the flight attendants remain the best-paid flight attendants in the regional carrier industry."</p><p>Comair is continuing to seek deals with its pilots and mechanics. The airline had reached an agreement with pilots for $17.3 million in cuts and for $1 million in concessions from its mechanics, but those deals were contingent on Comair getting $8.9 million in givebacks from the flight attendants.</p><p>Long said that progress continues in talks with the mechanics represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. No new talks have been scheduled with the Air Line Pilots Association that represents Comair pilots, she said.</p><p>Comair President Don Bornhorst has said the carrier needs to cut labor costs to be able to avoid shrinking its service.</p><p>Comair submitted a bid Oct. 2 for some of Delta's regional jet service, but was pessimistic about its chances of winning that bid without all of the concessions it needed.</p><p>Delta announced Aug. 22 that it had requested bids for some of its regional jet service, much of which is handled by Comair. Comair Flight 5191 crashed five days later in Lexington, Ky., killing 49 people, and Delta allowed Comair until Oct. 2 to submit its bid.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1d04394)</p><p>HASH(0x1d0443c)</p>

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