The Fruits of Persistence

After more than four-years of negotiations, United Airlines pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) reached an Agreement In Principle (AIP) with United’s management. The agreement occasions a milestone for United pilots and includes substantial increases in monetary compensation, as well as hard-won improvements to aviators’ quality of life.

If ratified, the AIP—which, in addition to the aforementioned, comprises enhancements to job-security, more reasonable work-place rules, and improvements to benefits and retirement-packages—will represent approximately $10-billion in value over the contract’s life.

United ALPA Master Executive Council (MEC) Captain Garth Thompson stated: "This agreement in principle could not have happened without the steadfast resolve of the 16,000 United pilots. The tireless dedication demonstrated by United pilots over the past several years ensured our solidarity which was instrumental in achieving this historic agreement.”

The coming weeks will see negotiators work to complete the inchoate deal’s final language. Once complete, the United MEC will review subject language and hold a vote for purpose of determining whether or not the AIP is elevated in import to a tentative agreement, which would be distributed, subsequently, throughout the entirety of United’s pilot cadre for final ratification—thereby ensuring every UAL pilot is afforded opportunity to voice his/her opinion vis-à-vis the contract by which their lives will be so profoundly affected.

To sustain the dissemination of comprehensive information pertaining to ongoing deliberations and addressing questions pertaining to such, the United MEC will continue to distribute communiques to the air-carrier’s pilots.

Founded in 1931 and representing over 74,000 pilots in the employs of 42 U.S. and Canadian airlines, the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) is the world’s largest and most influential pilot union.

FMI: www.UPA23.com