Frontier Airlines and Teamsters Union Reach Agreement on Wage and Benefit Concessions

By Daniel Baxter

August 07, 2009 - Frontier Airlines and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), Local 961, today announced entry into a consensual, long-term labor agreement and a comprehensive settlement of the Company’s litigation under Section 1113 of the Bankruptcy Code.

The agreement modifies the wage and benefit reductions Frontier obtained from its IBT-represented employees under a Bankruptcy Court order last November. The new agreement’s modified wage and benefit reductions are comparable to the consensual reductions Frontier has obtained from its other employee groups. The settlement, if ratified, also will resolve the ongoing appeals of last year’s Bankruptcy Court order.

The proposed agreement, which is endorsed and supported by IBT leadership, will now be put before Frontier's maintenance employees for a ratification vote. The IBT anticipates it will hold the ratification vote on the agreement and count ballots by Aug. 20.

“Frontier and the IBT worked together to negotiate an agreement that takes into account the best interests of Frontier, the IBT and, most importantly, all of our maintenance employees,” said Frontier President and CEO Sean Menke. “I applaud the IBT leadership for working with us to reach this agreement. It provides us with cost assurances and labor certainty as we proceed with the upcoming auction process and our anticipated emergence from bankruptcy.”

"The Teamsters Union and its members understand the importance to our members and to Frontier of this agreement,” said Matthew Fazakas, President and Principal Officer of Teamsters Local 961. “On behalf of the IBT leadership, we fully endorse this agreement and will work to achieve ratification as promptly as possible.”