United, Pilots Agree On Four-Year Contract

United Airlines announced Wednesday it has reached agreement with its pilots union on a four-year contract, the company’s first labor agreement since employees became majority owners two years ago.

The contract negotiations were seen as a test of how well management dealt with unions whose members are both owners and employees of the airline.

Under terms of the tentative pact, the 8,500 United pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association would receive 3 percent raises in 1997 and 1998, followed by 2 percent increases in each of the two years after.

Pilots are paid according to the type and size of planes they fly, with some receiving more than $100,000 a year, analysts said.

The company said pilots also would receive lump-sum profit-sharing payments in the last two years of the contract, with the amount dependent on the company’s performance in those years.