Contract negotiations for United Airlines’ 23,000 ramp and public-relations workers came to a halt yesterday when the company floated proposals that the chief negotiator and president of the workers’ union characterized as less than industry leading (see WIT for Feb. 26, 2002). The union---District 141 of the International Association of Machinists---has asked government mediators involved to declare the talks at impasse and begin the thirty-day countdown required before a strike can be held. United has indicated that it considers the offer it currently has on the table to be industry leading, and will oppose the formal declaration of an impasse and the initiation of the pre-strike cooling off period as it feels that negotiations are not yet hopelessly deadlocked.
See SUSAN CHANDLER, Chicago Tribune, March 20, 2002