By BRAD WONG
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Despite a double-digit pay increase before them, aircraft mechanics at Alaska Airlines yesterday rejected a new four-year contract, sparking more labor talks between the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association and the Seattle-based carrier.

Both sides last month reached a tentative contract agreement, which included job protection language for the nearly 700 Alaska mechanics.

The members' rejection of the tentative contract means the carrier, which is trying to improve its on-time reliability and long-term profitability, must now wade back into labor negotiations.

Louie Key, regional director for the union, said the association would survey its rank-and-file members to find out exactly what they opposed. But he believes the lack of a retroactive pay adjustment covering the past few years and higher medical costs for mechanics were obstacles.

"Lacking the retroactive pay adjustment, the membership didn't feel that made up for it," said Key.

Bill Ayer, chief executive and chairman of the carrier's parent company, Alaska Air Group Inc., said in a statement the company is confident a new agreement can be reached.

"We continue to seek a market-based contract that will allow Alaska Airlines to compete successfully and pursue growth, leading to good jobs and new opportunities for our employees," he said.

Alaska Air has said it wants to pay its employees market-rate wages. The union has said that market rate for a mechanic ranges from the mid-$20s per hour to the mid-$30s per hour.

The union said on its Web site that the four-year deal would have meant a 10.27 percent base pay increase when the contract was signed and yearly increases of 1 1/2 percent thereafter.

For months, low morale has affected many employees at Alaska Airlines, which in May replaced 472 union baggage handlers at Sea-Tac Airport with less expensive contract workers. Key said morale and on-time arrival problems could have been a factor in the vote.

"You have to wonder what influence it had on this vote," he said. "The mechanics have been under a lot of stress and pressure keeping up with the maintenance demands on the fleet."

The union represents mechanics at Alaska facilities in Seattle, Portland, Anchorage, Juneau, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles and Moses Lake.

The mechanics' decision follows similar contract rejections this month from the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents about 2,400 Alaska employees, and the Air Line Pilots Association, which has about 1,500 Alaska pilots.