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ExpressJet, Flight Attendants Agree on Contract

Posted on: Thursday, 7 July 2005, 12:00 CDT

Jul. 7--ExpressJet Airlines reached a tentative agreement with its 1,200 flight attendants on a new four-year contract, the employees' union and airline announced Wednesday.

ExpressJet is a regional carrier for Houston-based Continental Airlines, where separate talks with the larger carrier's flight attendants are headed for federal mediation.

ExpressJet operates as Continental Express and provides service to some 150 destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

The ExpressJet deal includes raises of up to 35 percent over the life of the contract, as well as an improved 401(k) plan and more job security, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

"It is not a concessionary contract: it is a progressive contract," union spokesman Joseph Tiberi said Wednesday. "Work rules, benefits, wages, retirement, all have been improved."

That union also represents Continental Airlines' 7,000 flight attendants.

In a statement Wednesday evening, ExpressJet confirmed a deal had been reached and noted that negotiations had been under way since November 2004.

If the ExpressJet contract is approved, the base wage for flight attendants will increase from between $17.11 and $31 per flight hour to between $19.38 and $37.68 per flight hour, according to the union.

"Despite the dire condition of the entire airline industry and a coordinated attack on union-won wages and benefits, the IAM was able to achieve a total compensation package that is the best in the regional industry," said William O'Driscoll, president of IAM District 142.

The flight attendant negotiating committee is recommending that the rank and file approve the pact, O'Driscoll added. Flight attendants will vote July 18 through July 24.

Continental owns about 8.5 percent of Houston-based ExpressJet, Continental spokesman Dave Messing said Wednesday.

Continental announced late last month it was seeking federal mediation for the negotiations with its flight attendants. A mediator for those talks was named Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Continental flight attendants voted down a tentative contract that included wage and benefit cuts.

The negotiating committee for the flight attendants' union had urged approval of that agreement, but some Continental flight attendants had expressed dissatisfaction with the representation provided by the union.

Continental has tallied $418 million in wage and benefit cuts from its other unions and worker groups. The carrier was seeking a total of $500 million.

The airline has warned that the longer it takes to secure cuts from its attendants, the deeper the concessions will have to be.

The mediator named Wednesday for the Continental talks will set a schedule for negotiations and decide where they will take place, Messing said.

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CAL,

Source: Houston Chronicle

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