Striking Comair Pilots Reject Settlement Offer

Striking Comair pilots have rejected a proposal that would have ended the walkout they began March 26, the Air Line Pilots Assn. said Saturday.

The company has said the pilots’ decision was critical for the future of Comair, the nation’s second-largest regional airline, behind American Eagle. The vote was 1,042 to 99, the union said.

“The pilots have spoken and they have spoken dramatically,” union chairman J.C. Lawson said. “They are not willing to work under the conditions [Comair] laid out.”

The National Mediation Board crafted the settlement proposal after eight days of negotiations between Comair and the pilots in Washington didn’t produce a deal.

Comair said no new talks are scheduled, and the mediation board said it will be at least 30 days before new talks can be held.

“Comair pilots remain committed to resolving this dispute,” Lawson said. “We remain ready to meet with management for further negotiations.”

Comair earlier said it would lay off half of its 4,000 nonstriking employees today. The union’s vote will force more cost-cutting, company President Randy Rademacher said, that might include more layoffs of ground personnel.

The union’s leaders said the proposal didn’t satisfy their goals in the negotiations, but they decided to let the pilots decide whether to accept or reject it.

The union recently sent a letter to Comair pilots saying the proposal “improved upon the company’s offer,” the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Saturday. The letter also cautioned pilots of the ramifications if the proposal is rejected.

Delta Air Lines, which bought Comair in January 2000 for $1.8 billion, also said the vote was critical.

“They are making a statement about the direction of Comair and their own careers,” Frederick W. Reid, Delta’s president and chief operating officer, said as the pilots began voting Thursday.

Reid said then that, if the proposal was rejected, Delta was prepared to take any actions necessary to protect its investment and to continue serving Cincinnati as a flight network hub. Delta has received offers for 60 of Comair’s aircraft, he said.

Comair’s current contract paid pilots from $16,000 to $96,000 a year. The rejected proposal’s range was between $21,000 and $104,000, and would have made Comair fliers the best-paid in the regional airline industry, management said.

Union leaders said the proposal fell short of pilots’ goals for salary, longer rest breaks, pay for all on-duty hours--not just hours spent flying--and a company-paid retirement program. Union leaders said the proposal offered inadequate company-paid retirement.

Delta officials said the strike has cost the airline $4 million a day in lost revenue.

Union leaders said Comair pilots deserved to be paid what their counterparts make at larger airlines, because their duties are the same. But Comair management said it cannot afford those salaries because Comair’s 50-seat jets don’t have the revenue-generating capacity of larger carriers’ planes.

Comair shut down all flight operations after the strike began and eliminated 200 pilot jobs. It deferred orders for new jets and sold 17 older aircraft.

The strike was the first since the carrier was founded in 1977. The airline is based at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.