AP
Comair Imposing Cuts on Attendants
Monday October 9, 4:42 pm ET
By Lisa Cornwell, Associated Press Writer
Comair to Impose Wage Cuts, Work Rule Concessions on Flight Attendants
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Comair, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines Inc., said Monday it will impose wage cuts and changes in work rules for the regional airline's 970 flight attendants beginning Nov. 15.
The action comes more than two months after a federal bankruptcy judge gave Comair permission to throw out its contract with the flight attendants. Comair was seeking concessions of $7.9 million a year as part of a package of cuts from its flight attendants, pilots and mechanics.
The flight attendants have threatened to go on strike if Comair imposed concessions, and the company said Monday that it will seek an order to prevent the union from engaging in any type of work action.
Messages seeking comment from the union were left at the Teamsters' national office in Washington, D.C., and at the local union office.
Like its Atlanta-based parent Delta, Comair is trying to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed last year. Comair 6,500 employees and operates 882 flights daily to 103 cities.
Comair said it has tried to achieve consensual terms with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that represents its flight attendants since last November.
Even with the adjustments to the contract that include an average pay cut of 7.5 percent, the company says its flight attendants will remain the highest paid in the regional airline industry. The average flight attendant salary is $29,950 and the average pay cut is $2,250.
Comair said it remains willing to negotiate and still wants a consensual deal with the union.
The airline, based near Cincinnati in Erlanger, Ky., also has been negotiating with its pilots and mechanics unions.
Comair had earlier reached an agreement with its pilots for $17.3 million in cuts and for $1 million from its mechanics, but those deals were contingent on Comair getting $8.9 million in givebacks from flight attendants. Talks resumed with the pilots and mechanics after Comair said it had reduced the flight attendant concessions to $7.9 million.
Comair:
http://www.comair.com
International Brotherhood of Teamsters:
http://www.teamsters.org
