Comair Mechanics OK Pay, Pension Cuts

Jan. 30, 2006
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers did not release the vote count but union spokesman Joseph Tiberi said a majority of the 600 members approved the revisions to the current contract.

CINCINNATI_Comair mechanics have approved concessions worth about $1 million annually in pay and pension benefits that the airline says it needs to be competitive with other regional carriers, the union said Friday.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers did not release the vote count but union spokesman Joseph Tiberi said a majority of the 600 members approved the revisions to the current contract. The mechanics completed voting on Thursday.

"This agreement helps meet the needs of the company while assuring that our mechanics remain a part of Comair's future," Tiberi said.

The package includes a 2 percent cut in pay and eliminates some pension benefits.

When the new agreement goes into effect, a starting mechanic would make $12.01 per hour and those with seven years or more on the job would make $21.54 per hour, Tiberi said.

"This consensual agreement is an important step in our progress through the Chapter 11 restructuring," Allen Messick, Comair's vice president of maintenance, said in a statement Friday.

Comair, based across from Cincinnati in Erlanger, Ky., began negotiations with its unions after its parent company, Delta Air Lines Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September.

The concessions are part of the $70 million that Comair has said it needs to cut from its annual costs. Comair pilots have approved concessions worth about $17 million annually.

The airline said that the agreements reached with its pilots and mechanics will not be effective until Comair reaches or imposes new terms in its contract with flight attendants. The deals also require bankruptcy court approval.