Continental Airline attendantsapprove interim contrac

Continental Airlines flight attendants approved a contract that gives them pay raises and a no-furlough guarantee as the carrier prepares to merge with United Airlines.

The 20-month agreement, reached in January, was approved by 68 percent of attendants voting, the Machinists union said in a statement today. The union represents 9,300 employees at Continental, a unit of Chicago-based United Continental Holdings Inc.

The contract, which the union said gives its members the highest base pay among full-fare major U.S. carriers, will remain in place until attendants at the combined airline vote on whether to be represented by the Machinists or the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. A new labor agreement then will be negotiated for the merged group. The Association of Flight Attendants represents 16,000 United workers.

“This interim agreement provides immediate raises and important merger protections as United and Continental integrate their operations,” Robert Roach Jr., Machinists general vice president, said in the statement.

The agreement approved today provides raises that will bring the top level of base pay to $52.53 an hour, including a 2.5 percent base wage increase retroactive to Jan. 1, 2010, and a 2.5 percent boost on Sept. 1, the union said. It also includes profit sharing, sick-leave enhancements and a no-furlough policy through Sept. 2, 2012.

United and Continental completed their $3.47 billion all- stock merger on Oct. 1, forming the world's largest carrier. The two airlines will fly separately until U.S. regulators give them permission to operate as one carrier.