Continental Airlines has confirmed that its technicians and
related employees, represented by the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters (IBT), ratified their collective bargaining agreement
with the company.
"We are committed to reaching fair and mutually beneficial
agreements with all of our unions, and are pleased our Continental
technicians have voted to ratify this contract," said Jim Keenan,
senior vice president of Technical Operations for the combined
company. The agreement covers approximately 3,700 Continental
technicians and related employees located throughout the United
States.
"We look forward to continuing our important partnership with
our IBT represented co-workers in delivering safe, on-time
performance for our customers," said Joe Ferreira, vice president
of Line Maintenance for Continental.
Official Teamster Statement
"Today, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced
that the mechanics of Continental Airlines ratified an amended
collective bargaining agreement with the airline. In an election in
which 84 percent of eligible Teamster mechanics voted, 2250, or 74
percent, voted in favor of accepting the new contract.
"The IBT Airline Division is proud of our Continental mechanics
and the strong new agreement their solidarity allowed us to
achieve. In a difficult economy, our members were able to get
retroactive pay, a signing bonus, good raises, furlough protections
and defined benefit pension guarantees, and to set our entire
membership up for a very favorable amalgamation with our brother
and sister United mechanics.
"The new contract will be signed within the next week. The IBT
Airline Division is the leading Airline mechanic union,
representing 15,000 mechanics at United, Continental, AirTran,
Frontier, Horizon, ExpressJet, and ASA, among other carriers, as
well as a total of 64,000 airline employees in every craft."
Continental Airlines is a wholly owned subsidiary of United
Continental Holdings, Inc. Continental, together with Continental
Express and Continental Connection, has more than 2,400 daily
departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, serving 142
domestic and 131 international destinations. United Continental
Holdings, Inc. became the holding company for both United and
Continental upon close of the merger transaction. The two airlines
will operate separately as they begin to integrate key customer
services, marketing activities and airport processes.