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.

FMI: www.continental.com, www.Teamster.org