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Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation
updated 04/02/2008 12:30 PM

UAL Signs New Ground Handling Agreement
April 2, 2008

Late Monday evening March 31, 2008, United Airlines signed and executed a ground handling agreement with Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation. District 143 received a phone call from AWAC Vice President Vince Portaro on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 advising us that United Airlines signed this new agreement with AWAC. The new agreement will be for 48 months, preserving our current UAL stations and adding MYR (March), ORF (April 15), BHM (March 25), MBS (May 28), and IAD Ramp (April 1). Once complete details are received from AWAC, we will post the station agreement on our web site.

 

February 19, 2008

New Contract Signed
On February 12, 2008 District 143 VP Kevin Heffernan and GC Paul Longden met with Air Wisconsin's vice presidents Vince Portaro and Joel Kuplack and signed the new collective bargaining agreement. Even though our new agreement is contingent upon the Company entering into a new ground handling agreement with UAL, we were advised that no other ground handler has signed off with UAL yet. Vince Portaro stated AWAC feels confident they would reach an agreement on the incentive and contract language with UAL within the next few weeks.

Early Retirement Separation Program
The early retirement separation program is tied to the final signing of the new ground handling agreement. The employees eligible for the program are only employees who were on the active payroll or an approved leave of absence (sick or OJI leave) on the effective date of February 1, 2008. Eligible employees must have a minimum of ten years of service, with service and age adding to a minimum of 65. Payment under the program shall be two weeks of pay (full-time = 40 hours per week; part-time = 25 hours per week) at an eligible employee's current rate of pay at the time of separation under this program for each year of service with the Company. Employees interested in participating in the program must execute a request for participation on a form satisfactory to the Company no later than June 30, 2008. If more than one employee at a location requests participation, the Company reserves the right to designate the effective date of the employee's separation.

Members Ratify Tentative Agreement

On January 28, 2008, District 143 tellers counted the ballots at our St. Paul headquarters. The outcome of the vote on the tentative agreement is as follows:

85% Yes votes for the agreement
15% No votes against the agreement

District 143 has notified the Company of the final vote. District 143, General Chair Paul Longden and Vice President Kevin Heffernan want to thank everyone who participated in this ratification vote.