Union Will Vote On The Agreement In The Coming Weeks

After more than four and a half years of contract negotiations with management, the Pinnacle Airlines pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, (ALPA) reached a tentative agreement with management on a new collective bargaining agreement.

“We are pleased that our Negotiating Committee was able to reach an agreement on all sections of a new contract,” said Captain Scott Erickson, chairman of the Pinnacle arm of ALPA.

The Pinnacle pilots’ contract became amendable May 1, 2005. The pilots are the only Pinnacle employee group that has not had a raise in more than five years.

Details of the agreement will be released after legal review and finalization of contract language. The tentative agreement must first go to the Pinnacle Master Executive Council (MEC) – the union’s governing body – for review and ratification before it is sent to the pilots for a vote. A series of pilot road shows will be conducted later this month to fully discuss details of the new contract if the agreement is approved by the MEC. If the pilots ratify the agreement, it will then be signed by ALPA President Captain John Prater.

“It’s been a grueling process in reaching a consensual agreement. After an intense day of negotiations at the National Mediation Board offices, the pilots and management realized that closing the chapter on this book will allow both sides to move forward,” said Capt. Prater.

Pinnacle pilots and management have been negotiating for a new contract since February 2005, and entered mediated negotiations with the NMB in late September 2006. Pinnacle employs 1,282 pilots.

FMI: www.alpa.org