Comair pilots finish voting on contract

COVINGTON, Kentucky (CNN) -- Striking Comair pilots on Saturday finished voting on a new contract that the president of Delta Air Lines said will make them the "best compensated pilots in their industry." Results are to be revealed at 7 p.m. EDT.

Before the vote, union leaders criticized the contract offer as not coming close to meeting their demands.

They said it would not make them the best-compensated pilots in the industry and accused Delta, the parent company of Comair, of trying to "break the union."

"There's only one airline industry, and we're certainly nowhere close to the highest-paid," said union spokesman Jim Evans.

The contract offer was made after the National Mediation Board brought the two sides together for talks. Pilots began voting on the offer Thursday. Voting ended at 2 p.m. EDT Saturday.

Delta President Frederick W. Reid warned that, if the new contract is rejected, the company could face more layoffs. About 200 pilot positions and the jobs of another 2,000 Comair employees -- half its staff -- have been eliminated since the strike began.

"The choice, ladies and gentleman, now remains with each professional Comair pilot to independently decide his or her own future and, in the process, the future careers of their fellow employees," Reid said.

Comair is the nation's second-largest commuter airline. Its 1,350 pilots have been on strike since March 26 over issues of pay, rest time and retirement benefits. The airline has since shut its operations, at least temporarily.

Evans said the fact that the Delta president made the contract announcement underscored what pilots have said all along: That they are Delta employees and should be paid on the same scale as Delta pilots.

"We would simply like to be paid accordingly," he said.

He said Comair's annual sales exceed $1 billion, making it one of the country's most profitable airlines.

Under the contract that was voted on, first-year pilots were offered a raise of 10 cents per hour over the contract they rejected in March; 14-year captains were offered an 80-cent raise over the earlier contract offer, said Evans. He said some of the pay rates offered to pilots in between those extremes "are fairly respectable."

But, he said, the company fell far short of offering reasonable retirement packages, allowing enough pilot rest and giving adequate retroactive pay.

"It comes down to: Are they really going to negotiate with us?" he said.

"Why don't they protect the traveling public by negotiating with their pilots?"

He acknowledged that the past 45 days have been difficult for pilots, many of whom have taken second jobs. "It's certainly been a very stressful, very trying time."

Delta has been embroiled in tough contract disputes with its own pilots. The union leadership for Delta pilots ratified a tentative agreement earlier this month. Delta's 9,800 pilots have until June 20 to vote on the contract. The package must be ratified by a simple majority.

According to the Air Line Pilots Association, a tentative deal with Delta includes pay increases that range from 24 percent to 34 percent over the four-year contract.