No strike as United, CHICAGO >> United Airlines announced a tentative contract agreement with the union representing its 12,800 mechanics and aircraft cleaners today, less than 36 hours before a strike deadline.
mechanics reach pact
A tentative agreement comes
36 hours before the deadlineStar-Bulletin staff and news services
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers confirmed the tentative settlement. Details were not immediately disclosed.
The announcement came on the fourth day of urgent talks following the mechanics' rejection of United's contract offer. The mechanics were preparing to walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. EST Wednesday if no settlement were reached.
"Our negotiating team and United's labor committee of the board of directors have accepted the terms of the IAM's proposal," Jack Creighton, chairman and chief executive of United parent UAL Corp., said in a prepared statement. "With the agreement, our customers can be confident that United will continue to operate without disruption."
United had a decline in bookings in recent days, reflecting public fears of a shutdown.
Negotiators for the two sides held talks through the weekend in a hotel in suburban Rosemont, Ill., near both O'Hare International Airport and UAL headquarters.
Mechanics over the weekend began removing their tool boxes and personal belongings from United maintenance centers in preparation for a strike.
The airline said the International Association of Machinists will forward details to membership for a vote within the next two weeks.
United said the tentative deal means its jets will continue to operate without disruption.
The airline's top executive in Hawaii welcomed the tentative agreement today, saying it will ease a lot of worries.
"I'm glad that we've got an agreement, at least a tentative settlement, out there and we don't have those customers and employees uneasy about what's happening," said Thomas J. Renville, the airline's managing director-Hawaii.
"So it's just a good thing," he said.
United has about 17 flights a day between the mainland and Hawaii, about one-fifth of the total business in that market.
The possibility of a strike just as the state's biggest industry, tourism, is on the verge of recovery from the Sept. 11 setback had worried government and tourism officials because of the economic damage it might cause. United brings about 100,000 passengers a month to Hawaii, according to state officials, and there were concerns that the other airlines might not have enough capacity to pick up the slack if United left the air.
Hawaii officials of the machinists union could not be reached for comment early today, but the 66 mechanics and 100 cleaning and maintenance workers the union represents in the islands had voted to accept the earlier contract.