TWA, Flight Attendant Union Reach Deal
Updated 7:39 PM ET June 13, 1999
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Trans World Airlines Inc. and the union representing its flight attendants and machinists said Sunday they reached a new contract deal.
The union said it would recommend its members approve it.
Late last month, TWA presented what it said was its best and final offer to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union (IAM), which represents about 16,000 flight attendants, ground workers and machinists at the St. Louis, Missouri-based airline. The union had recommended its members reject it.
Terms of the new deal are expected to be released Tuesday after being presented to union members, William O'Driscoll, president and directing general chairman of IAM District Lodge 142 said in a joint conference call with the company Sunday afternoon.
In a statement released earlier Sunday, O'Driscoll said the deal is a "significant improvement over previous contract offers from TWA."
William Compton, TWA's president and chief executive officer, said during the call that the two sides "refocused on the duration" of the contract offer and were to reach an acceptable deal.
Compton said the two sides resumed talking Tuesday and reached the proposed agreement early Sunday morning.
The airline had said its earlier offer would bring the employees -- who made financial concessions to help the nation's eighth-largest carrier during two bankruptcy reorganizations this decade -- to 90 percent of industry standard wages by summer 2001.
Compton said TWA's revenues would suffer somewhat as business travelers especially balked at booking with the airline during the talks.
"When you have these types of uncertainties you tend to lose the higher-yield business traveler," Compton said.
The union said it will cancel ratification votes in progress on TWA's previous contract offers and urge acceptance of the latest deal. The two sides pledged no work stoppages or disruptions during the expected one-month ratification period.
"We are pleased to have reached tentative agreement on new contract proposals that the IAM feels will better serve the interests of its members and that TWA regards as achievable and financially realistic," said William Compton, TWA's president and chief executive officer.
TWA stock closed Friday unchanged at $4.44 on the American Stock Exchange.
|
