United, Flight Attendants Reach Tentative Pact

Flight attendants at United Airlines said they reached a tentative contract agreement with the nation’s largest airline. The union declined to provide terms of the tentative pact. “From an economic standpoint, it maintains the United flight attendants’ position in the industry,” said Assn. of Flight Attendants International President Pat Friend. Industry analysts said United’s flight attendants are among the highest paid in the industry. Chicago-based United said the new contract would run through 2006. Negotiators for the flight attendants said the tentative agreement was reached Saturday after a 25-hour final bargaining session. The pact requires approval by the airline’s 22,000 flight attendants based in 20 cities in the U.S., Europe, Asia and South America. The union and the airline have been in talks since March 1996. The agreement with the flight attendants follows United’s recent contract agreements with the pilots and machinists unions. Friend declined to comment on how the flight attendants’ pact compares to those reached with the machinists and pilots, but she said negotiators felt they were “comparable.” United is owned by UAL Corp. . . . Ground workers at British Airways said they would rather talk than strike to resolve a dispute over the airline’s plans to sell its remaining in-flight catering operations. The ground workers’ decision eased pressure on British Airways, which struggled Monday to rebuild a flight schedule disrupted by a three-day flight attendants’ strike. The walkout ended Saturday, but the fallout continues to hamper operations.