News Release
Continental Pilots Ratify New Five-Year Contract
HOUSTON, June 12, 1998 -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAI.B and CAI.A) today announced that the Independent Association of Continental Pilots has ratified a new five-year labor contract. The contract will be effective upon signing and will cover approximately 4,000 Continental Airlines pilots.
"It was a tough set of negotiations. Both sides went in looking for a win-win and that's what we achieved," said Mike Campbell, senior vice president of human resources and labor relations. "This contract is good for the pilots and good for Continental."
"The contract brings Continental Airlines pilots up to industry standards while allowing the airline to enjoy work rules that give it a competitive advantage," said C.D. McLean, executive vice president of operations. The newly ratified labor contract becomes amendable Oct. 1, 2002.
The negotiations weren't contentious or protracted by industry standards. Continental enjoys one of the least contentious labor-management relationships in the airline industry. Just last week, the Transport Workers Union and the company agreed on an amended aircraft dispatcher's contract after just five days of negotiations. That contract wasn't even amendable until next year. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, representing Continental's flight attendants, and the company reached an agreement on June 30, 1996, after less than four months of negotiations and one day before that contract became amendable. Airline industry labor contract negotiations have been known to take several years to complete.