Comair might void contract

Paul

Veteran
Nov 15, 2005
1,102
0
Comair has told its flight attendants that it could ask a bankruptcy judge to void the contract covering those 1,100 workers as soon as this week.

That would happen barring a breakthrough in negotiations aimed at getting $8.9 million in annual concessions from the union.

In a memo to all flight attendants last week, the Erlanger-based regional airline said the two sides "are still very far away" from what management thinks that it needs to compete and survive.
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As a result, the company is preparing to file a motion to dump the pact. "This is not a step we want to take, but we cannot also risk the future of all Comair employees," said the memo, which was released by three Comair executives and obtained by The Enquirer Monday.

Comair already has received concessions from its pilots and mechanics unions, but those agreements go into effect only if all three unions agree to cuts. The airline also is in the process of cutting 1,000 jobs, most of them local.

In December, Delta cut the local flight schedule for it and Comair by 26 percent.

Airline spokesman Nick Miller Monday said the memo was issued because the two sides were "not making substantial progress in negotiations" and that "Comair's future is dependent on its timely restructuring."

If such a filing is made and a judge agrees with it, Comair could void the existing deal and impose its own conditions. But the workers may be able to conduct their own actions, up to and including a full strike - although that has never been legally tested.

Cincinnati.com