Pilots at Alaska Airlines are preparing to vote on a tentative agreement (TA) for a new four-year contract. The TA was reached after more than two years of negotiations between the airline's management and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents the pilots. The union leadership has approved the TA. “The agreement we’ve reached meets our goals of improving or protecting our work rules—which includes pay—our job security, our retirement security and our health benefits while allowing our company to continue to succeed,” said Alaska MEC Chairman Capt. Bill Shivers.
Since May 2005, Alaska Airlines 1,455 pilots have been working under an arbitrator-imposed contract that cut pay by as much as 35 percent.
Should the vote by the pilots' union membership fail to approve the TA, negotiations with management would resume and continue until either another agreement is reached or until the National Mediation Board releases the parties into self-help.
Voting by the membership is expected to be completed by the third week in May.
