UNITED FLIGHT ATTENDANTS SAY YES

In a move that brings the full integration of United and its merger partner Continental Airlines one step closer to completion, members of the flight attendants union at United Airlines have ratified a labor deal that puts flight attendants at United and Continental Airlines in position to begin talks on a contract covering both groups.

In 2010 United and Continental closed a $3.17 billion merger forming the world’s largest airline, known as United Airlines and owned by United Continental Holdings Inc.  The integration of the two work forces with joint contracts has been viewed as a major step in achieving a complete merger.

United Continental Holdings, Inc. (UAL) is the holding company for both United Airlines and Continental Airlines. Together with United Express, Continental Express and Continental Connection, these airlines operate an average of 5,656 flights a day to 376 airports on six continents from their hubs in Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Guam, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark Liberty, San Francisco, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. United and Continental are members of Star Alliance, which offers more than 21,000 daily flights to 1,290 airports in 189 countries. United and Continental’s more than 80,000 employees reside in every U.S. state and in many countries around the world.

Greg Davidowitch, president of The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) at United Airlines, said in a statement, “This agreement is good for flight attendants and good for the company. It addresses many immediate needs identified by United flight attendants and serves as a stepping-stone to single contract negotiations”.  Continental flight attendants ratified their collective bargaining agreement in February 2011.

The deal, originally struck on Jan. 7th, covers about 15,000 United flight attendants located in the United States and several international bases and includes new job-security protections, scheduling and compensation improvements.  It also includes an immediate 10 percent wage increase and a $5,000 signing bonus and further requires United to return to the bargaining table no later than this summer, said Davidowitch.

“We are pleased that our United flight attendants ratified this agreement, and will now start joint negotiations to develop a contract to bring all of our flight attendants together,” said Sam Risoli, senior vice president of Inflight for United. “We have a lot of work ahead of us and look forward to productive discussions with the AFA”.

According to the AFA, 88.5 percent of flight attendants participated in the vote of which 70.4 percent cast ballots in favor of the agreement.

In addition, United Continental is also in talks to negotiate a joint deal with its two pilot groups, the ramp and fleet service groups and the dispatchers and mechanics.  Reservations and customer service workers are holding elections to determine union representation.