United Gate Agents, Baggage Handlers Approve Contract

United Airlines workers voted to approve contracts lifting the pay of 30,000 baggage handlers, gate agents and other groups, in a reversal from a year ago when the airline considered more outsourcing.

The seven separate deals call for about 30 percent in wage increases over the next five years and USD$100 million in lump sum payments. They also offer protections against outsourcing and a promise to bring more airport work in-house at United's Los Angeles and San Francisco hubs, the airline and IAM union said.

The news marks a vote of confidence by the employees, little more than a year after United said it would outsource 1,150 positions across 16 US airports.

It also marks an achievement of new chief executive Oscar Munoz, who took over in September with the aim of building morale after years of strained relations with different work groups.

"We remain laser focused on getting contracts like these for our flight attendants and technicians," Munoz said in a news release, referring to groups that have lacked a joint contract since United and Continental merged in 2010. "We’ll keep working closely with the unions to make that happen."

United said last year it would not outsource more jobs in baggage handling or customer service until at least 2019.

The airline and the IAM announced they had reached a tentative agreement on April 4. Workers voted to approve the accords "overwhelmingly," they said, without providing tallies of the ballots.