Transat reaches labor deal with pilots, union MONTREAL (Reuters) =97 Cockpit crews at Air Transat said Wednesday they had= =20 reached a tentative labor deal with the Canadian charter airliner, averting= =20 a strike at the beginning of the summer season. The deal was reached after= =20 21 months of negotiations and just as the airline's 320 pilots and=20 navigators were on the verge of declaring a strike. The Montreal-based=20 airline and tour operator cut 500 jobs May 5 because of the industry=20 slowdown following the Sept. 11 airliner attacks in United States and the=20 outbreak of SARS in Toronto. The deal, subject to ratification by the=20 workforce, would provide wage increases totaling 18% by Nov. 1, 2005 and=20 improve pensions and working condition for cockpit crews. The pilots are=20 members of the Air Line Pilots Association. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.caribbeanfloral.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************