The pilots strike at Comair could end next week, with the union planning to vote on a settlement crafted by federal mediators in an unprecedented step.

        Leaders of the carrier's 1,350-member pilots union said Friday night they would put a settlement proposed by the National Mediation Board to a ratification vote starting Thursday.

        Comair management also approved the deal, saying it was doing so to end the strike that today is 41 days long - the 48th-longest in airline history.

DAY 41

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        The strike has resulted in the cancellation of more than 33,000 flights and the loss of an estimated $4 million a day by Comair and its parent, Delta Air Lines.

        “This is a very serious decision with very serious ramifications,” Comair president Randy Rademacher said in a statement.

        What effect the proposed settlement could have on the 2,000 layoffs Comair plans to make May 13 — the day after the pilots finish voting — wasn't clear late Friday night. About 1,500 of those to be laid off work out of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

        Neither side would release details about the proposal, which came Thursday after a nine-day bargaining session at the mediation board offices in Washington, D.C. The talks were the first discussions between the two sides since the pilots walked off March 26.

        The settlement is being presented to the pilots — most of whom are based in the Tristate — although the Master Executive Council of Comair's branch of the Air

        Line Pilots Association chose not to endorse the proposal. Union chairman J.C. Lawson III said that decision was made because the proposal did not come as a result of a negotiated settlement.

        “Nonetheless, we are committed to giving our pilots a voice in how to proceed from here,” Mr. Lawson said in a statement. “We will lay out the details of the proposal, and the potential consequences of both its adoption and its rejection.”

        Mediation board spokesman Daniel Rainey did not return phone calls Friday seeking comment, but the proposal is nonbinding, meaning either side is free to reject it and continue the strike.

        The two sides entered the Washington talks far apart on work rules, retirement benefits, job protection and pay, with the company saying the difference was $240 million in total compensation, and the pilots saying it was half that.

        Comair - the nation's third-largest regional carrier - and Delta have lost a total of roughly $164 million through today.

        Delta issued a statement Friday night, saying it was “pleased” that the pilots had agreed to the ratification vote.

        Meanwhile, the pilots have lost about $144,000 a day in combined salaries, or about $6 million through today.

        The company's last known proposal - voted down almost unanimously by the pilots — would have made Comair regional jet captains the highest-paid in the industry and raised salaries between 16 and 51 percent.

        Comair said that offer would have taken a senior CRJ captain immediately from about $69,000 annually to almost $85,000; the captain's salary would reach $100,000 by the end of the contract in 2004.

        A first-year first officer who makes about $16,000 now would have jumped immediately to almost $21,000 and, eventually, would have received $39,120 annually.

        The strike will continue through the presentation of the proposal to the entire pilots group. Information sessions are scheduled for Cincinnati on Wednesday and in Orlando, Fla., Comair's second-largest hub, on Thursday.

        Voting will commence sometime Thursday afternoon and conclude May 12, said union spokesman Paul Lackie, who would not speculate on a possible outcome.

        Comair announced April 27 it was laying off 2,000 nonpilot employees, including 1,500 workers such as customer service agents and flight attendants at its hub here.

        Those layoffs are to take effect May 13, the day after the pilots stop voting. Comair spokeswoman Meghan Glynn said the status of those layoffs is unknown, given the uncertainty of the situation.

        “We are assessing our ramp-up operation, although we've said that restarting the airline would take longer than we originally thought,” Ms. Glynn said. “It's safe to say that we've got a team of people concentrating on what might happen if we need to restart, and another on what would happen if the proposal is not ratified.

        “But obviously, we'll be a smaller airline when we get back online.”

        Another unresolved issue is the 200 pilot positions the company eliminated last week in a cost-cutting move. It is not known whether the new proposal contains any language about those positions, or about how the company will pay its pilots as it gears back up.

        The fact that the two sides could possibly end the strike was good news to Morgan Wisbey of Clifton Heights, who flew Comair 31 times this year before the strike.

        “It's been an absolute night mare for me trying to get around,” said Mr. Whisbey, 29, a bank computer systems installer who complained of losing hours and days to connections. “I hope they get this thing settled soon. I want my direct flights back.”

        The mediation board's gambit in presenting such an offer surprised many observers.

        “I'm sure they wanted to do it before, but to the best of my knowledge, they've never taken this step,” said Purdue University business professor Frank J. Dooley, author of two books on the Railway Labor Act and the mediation board, which govern labor negotiations in the railroad and airline industries. “This might be a sign that the board is in uncharted territory with this case, and is looking to set some precedents.”

        David Walsh, a management professor and airline labor expert at Miami University, said the introduction of such a proposal puts the entire bargaining process at risk if either side rejects it.

        That could mean an even longer strike if the pilots vote down the contract.

        “That's why mediators generally don't do this,” Mr. Walsh said. “If it is turned down, it really puts the mediator in a bad position, and their ability to serve in a constructive role where they're seen as an impartial third party would be in jeopardy. Both sides would have a hard time re-entering talks if this fails.”

        But Mr. Walsh said that given the mediation board's reputation as an impartial third party, the proposal probably splits the difference between the two sides.

        “It's already such an unusual thing that I would expect that the offer would be right down the middle,” Mr. Walsh said. “They must be really looking for a way to bring an end to this thing.”

        Enquirer reporter Earnest Winston contributed to this story.

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