The pilots union at United Airlines voted to reject an agreement that would have allowed the airline more staffing flexibility in exchange for improvements in pilots’ working conditions, signaling dissatisfaction among the pilots.
About 68 percent voted against the tentative agreement. About 88 percent of United’s roughly 6,500 pilots voted.
The union demanded the airline renegotiate terms after United Airlines parent UAL Corp. posted profits after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year. The pilots took pay cuts and agreed to the termination of their pension plan by the company during the bankruptcy.
The contract changes would have raised the minimum number of hours certain pilots must fly each month. The airline expected the changes to improve its reliability, after it cancelled flights last summer due to a lack of pilots.
“It seems to us for the most part that the airline is staffed for normal operations, but whenever something happens like the snowstorms or like is bound to happen with thunderstorms this summer&that’s when the operation tends to falter” said Steve Derebey, a spokesman at the Air Line Pilots Association at United.
There was disagreement among the pilots union’s leadership over the agreement that was ultimately rejected by the membership, with some members of the master executive council voting against sending the agreement to members for a vote, Derebey said.
“What we hear from our pilots is that they did not want to give any kind of relief to the company whatsoever,” Derebey said. “Pilots are angry they’re angry at executive compensation.”
News about chief executive Glenn Tilton’s compensation package “gave the pilots a bad taste in their mouths,” Derebey said.
He said the union would continue with its “Fix it now” campaign demanding changes to their contract with picketing at airports in coming months.
“We had an agreement, a contract forced on us by bankruptcy and some of the things in that contract were so onerous,” Derebey said.
United has hundreds of pilots on furlough, but has had problems getting enough pilots to come back to work so far, according to Derebey. Many have joined other airlines or gotten other jobs, he said.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-954-1488 or kyamanouchi@denverpost.com.
