CHICAGO-
United Airlines pilots voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative deal that would have given the carrier more scheduling flexibility and allowed senior pilots to fly more hours per month, the pilots’ union said Friday.
Pilots voted 68 percent to 32 percent against the agreement, which comes with pilots at top U.S. airlines protesting their executives’ multimillion-dollar pay.
Air Line Pilots Association spokesman Steve Derebey said the vote’s outcome reflects anger about “excessive” compensation packages at United.
“The message you’ve sent is clear: While contractual improvements are critical, you are through providing this management relief in any way, shape or form,” Derebey said on a recorded hotline for pilots. “Management must face the reality that the pilots of United are through subsidizing failed decision-making.”
The tentative agreement had been reached by union leaders and management in a bid to avoid potential crew shortages that many observers fear could lead to crippling delays during the summer travel season.
But the vote shows that pilots are not in a compromising mood after the hefty pay cuts they took while United was in bankruptcy. Their anger intensified with lucrative pay packages for Chairman and CEO Glenn Tilton and other top executives at United parent UAL Corp. in the wake of last year’s exit from bankruptcy.
UAL said in a regulatory filing last month that Tilton received compensation worth $39.7 million in 2006. The bulk came in the form of stock and option awards granted in February, including an award the company valued at $20 million when it was issued Feb. 2, one day after UAL emerged from bankruptcy.
Responding to the vote, United spokeswoman Jean Medina said: “We worked with ALPA to reach the tentative agreement that would have addressed work life issues and operational needs of the company, and we will continue to work constructively with ALPA going forward.”
