United Airlines' mechanics and related employees yesterday ratified a tentative contract, averting a potential strike and closing another chapter in the airlines' bumpy labor relations. About 59 percent of voting members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 141-M, representing 13,000 airline workers, approved the pact--including a 37 percent raise--after 27 months of negotiations and recent presidential intervention.
The carrier still is in negotiations with IAM on a separate contract for 30,000 assorted workers. Once settled, carrier management will seek concessions from all employee groups as part of a companywide cost-cutting effort.