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JetBlue Reaches Initial Labor Agreement With Pilots Union

JetBlue Reaches Initial Labor Agreement With Pilots Union

(Bloomberg) -- JetBlue Airways Corp. has reached an initial agreement with its pilots union, marking the first such accord in the carrier’s history.

The deal, announced Friday by the Air Line Pilots Association and confirmed by JetBlue, will be reviewed by union leaders, who will make adjustments to the final contract language and decide whether to send it to members for a vote.

“This agreement in principle is the next step toward our final goal of having a fair and equitable contract with our company,” Patrick Walsh, head of the ALPA unit at JetBlue, said in a statement.

ALPA, which began representing JetBlue’s pilots in 2014, declined to disclose details. JetBlue was “pleased” to reach the agreement, Jeff Martin, executive vice president operations, said in a statement from the carrier.

Flight attendants at the New York-based carrier voted in April to join the Transport Workers Union, becoming only the second employee group at the airline to be represented by organized labor and further eroding what the carrier has touted as a “direct relationship” with its employees.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at maryc.s@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Susan Warren

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