Release #01.39a

May 4, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CINCINNATI, OH -- Elected union representatives of the Comair pilots, now in the sixth week of their labor strike, today voted to put a contract settlement proposal offered by the National Mediation Board into the pilots' hands for an expedited ratification ballot. The NMB presented the proposal after presiding over an eight-day bargaining session during which the airline's and pilots' negotiators narrowed differences, but failed to reach an accord.

"This proposal comes from the NMB and is not the result of a negotiated agreement," said Captain J.C. Lawson, chairman of the Comair pilots' unit of the Air Line Pilots Association. "As such, this proposal is not endorsed by the pilots' governing body," he said.

"Nonetheless, we are committed to giving our pilots a voice in how to proceed from here. In upcoming briefing sessions for our pilots, we will lay out the details of the proposal, and the potential consequences of both its adoption and its rejection," he said.

After presenting two briefings in the Cincinnati area on Wednesday, May 9, and another briefing in Orlando on May 10, the union will conduct an expedited telephone ballot. The balloting period will end Saturday, May 12.

Celebrating its seventieth year of advancing pilots' interests in air safety and collective bargaining, ALPA is the world's oldest and largest pilots union. It represents approximately 59,000 pilots at 46 airlines in the U.S. and Canada.

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Contact: Captain Paul Lackie, 859-282-2534