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By Daniel Baxter |
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November 25, 2010 - The Evergreen International Airlines
(EIA) Master Executive Council (MEC) has announced that
they are conducting a strike ballot of the membership to
be prepared for all possible contingencies should
negotiations fail.
EIA crewmembers, who are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int?l (ALPA), have been negotiating with their management for a new contract for over six years. Pilots are nearing their limit of frustration and dissatisfaction with management even as they continue to provide exemplary professional service that sustains the viability of the airline and ensures customer satisfaction. |
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Evergreen
crewmembers overwhelmingly turned down a tentative agreement in
August because it fell substantially short of their goals. The
failed agreement was largely a renewal of the current collective
bargaining agreement, which has been in place since 1999. The
crewmembers concluded that the tentative agreement was not
acceptable after more than 10 years without improvements in some
areas of working conditions, six years without a pay raise, and
no per diem increase since the late ?90s.
After
months of waiting to come back to the negotiating table since
the crewmembers voted down a tentative agreement in August, the
MEC is taking the necessary measures to secure a fair contract,
including sending the ballot to authorize a strike. The strike
ballot will open on December 1 and close January 7. If it
passes, it would authorize the EIA MEC to declare a strike once
the pilot group is given permission to do so by the National
Mediation Board (NMB).
?We certainly want a contract, not a strike,? said Professional Flight Engineer William Fink, chairman of the Evergreen ALPA unit. ?That has been our goal since day one more than six years ago?but the new agreement must provide our members with industry-standard wages, work rules, and benefits. We deserve no less. This strike authorization vote will give us the means to take all legal actions to attain the goal of a fair contract.? ALPA can request a proffer of arbitration from the NMB at any time. If the NMB issues a proffer, either party can reject arbitration. In that event, a 30-day cooling-off period would commence, after which crewmembers could legally engage in the first-ever pilot strike at Evergreen. |