$37.50 US / Hour....

[Guest Gadgeteer]

Labor's Love Lost: United's Mechanics

Feds Say 34.5% Raise a Good Thing

The union says, 'Recommendations submitted today [Monday] by the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) investigating the contract dispute at United Airlines include substantial pay raises and pension improvements for 15,000 mechanic and related employees represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

''The board looked at the facts and saw a company paying its employees at 1994 levels,' said Robert Roach, Jr., IAM Vice President of Transportation. 'They examined prevailing wage rates across the industry and saw an unfair advantage for United Airlines in the area of labor costs.'

'President Bush appointed the PEB on December 20, 2001, 2 years of negotiations between United and the IAM began. The board was given 30 days to investigate the contract dispute and make non-binding settlement recommendations.

''The board’s report contains significant improvements over United’s ‘no increases’ proposal,' said Scotty Ford, District 141-M president and lead negotiator for the mechanic’s group at United. 'We will review the report carefully, and hopefully it can serve as the basis for a settlement.'”

The proposal would raise United mechanics' wages from about $26.50/hour now, to over $37.50 (about $75,000 per year, plus benefits), in 2005. That's still $1.70 per hour less than the union wanted, by contract's end.

The Board was put into the dispute by President Bush, who prevented the union from going on strike last month ('Strike Bytes: United,' 12-17 and 12-24-01, ANN), using some kind of presidential contract-override power that has its root in law rather than the Constitution.

The Board's recommendation is non-binding, but it carries a lot of weight. The mechanics are pretty happy about it; UAL, reportedly in a very soft financial position already, isn't.