Evergreen air crew to vote on strike on December 1

CREW members at McMinnville-based Evergreen International Airlines has intended to vote December 1 on a strike after negotiating for six years without a contract, reported the Portland Oregonian.

The strike ballot is scheduled to open on December 1 and close January 7. The airline's pilots and flight engineers are the first batch of voters.

"Pilots are nearing their limit of frustration and dissatisfaction with management, even as they continue to provide exemplary professional service," said a statement released by the union. But the airline declined to comment.

Evergreen crew members objected to a tentative pact in August that would have largely renewed a collective bargaining agreement in place since 1999, the union said.

"We certainly want a contract, not a strike," said a flight engineer and chairman of the airline's pilots union William Fink.

It would be the first strike at Evergreen airline, a subsidiary of privately held Evergreen International Aviation Inc, if the ballot passes the action.

Evergreen, acquired from the CIA's Air America fleet, with a hub at Hong Kong International Airport, operates contract freight services, charters, scheduled flights, wet lease services. It also operates for the US military and US Postal Service. Its main bases are Rickenbacker International Airport, Columbus, JFK, New York and Columbus Metropolitan Airport.
(Source:www.schednet.com)