Evergreen pilots spurn new labor agreement

Evergreen pilots spurn new labor agreement    Pilots and crewmembers at all-cargo carrier Evergreen International Airlines have rejected a tentative collective bargaining agreement with management after 30 months of negotiations, the Air Line Pilots Association said Monday.
   The union said 96 percent of the crewmembers that participated voted against the labor agreement, which was hammered out by representatives for both sides in April.
   Employees of McMinnville, Ore.-based Evergreen joined ALPA in 2007 after three years of negotiations with an independent union.
   The tentative agreement was largely a renewal of the current collective bargaining agreement, which has been in place since 1999. The crewmembers concluded the tentative agreement contract is not acceptable after more than 10 years of no improvements in pay or working conditions, ALPA said.
   'The crewmembers could not get past the fact that they are working under 1999 wages and work rules and would have continued to do so for another two years under the rejected tentative agreement,' said William Fink, chairman of the Evergreen pilot group. 'We are aware that the holding company is struggling to meet substantial debt obligations, but are convinced that the airline can afford reasonable improvements in wages and working conditions for its employees.'
   The parties remain under the jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board, which will determine future measures for processing the case. The NMB has been supervising the talks since 2005.