COMAIR Pilots to begin voting on new pact proposal

The Comair president wants the airline to improve its reliability and customer service.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Comair pilots are to begin voting this weekend on a new contract proposal that union officials have said will include a pay freeze and unspecified contract improvements.
The Air Line Pilots Association represents about 1,800 Comair pilots. It declined Friday to release any details of the proposal until after members got a chance to see it on Saturday.
Voting is to begin by telephone and the Internet on Sunday and run through March 1, union spokesman Brian Moynihan said.
The outcome is a key for Comair, whose pilots are among the highest-paid among regional airlines. Pilots make between $23,000 and $109,000. Flight attendants make $20,000 to $40,000.
Objective
Comair president Fred Buttrell, who took over Comair on Jan. 17, wants the 6,000-employee airline to improve its reliability and customer service after a computer system failure forced the airline to cancel all Christmas Day flights, stranding thousands of passengers.
The company wants its 1,050 flight attendants to accept a pay freeze so the airline can buy up to 35 new jets to compete for more business. The flight attendants' union said it needs more information before it can take a proposal to its members for a vote.
Earlier this week, Comair's nearly 400 unionized mechanics rejected a five-year contract proposal.