United Airlines mechanics voted by a slim margin to stick with the International Association of Machinists rather than switch to another union that sought to represent them, the National Mediation Board said Thursday.
The challenge mounted by the tiny Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association had threatened to disrupt the labor peace brought about by an employee buyout of United.
The machinists union received 52 percent of the 12,439 votes cast while the challenger received 48 percent, according to the board, the federal agency that referees airline and railroad labor disputes.
The turnout was 87.5 percent of the 14,217 mechanics and related employees eligible to vote. They are among 23,500 United workers represented by the machinists union. Baggage handlers and other ineligible groups would have continued to be represented by that union.
The election sprang from some mechanics’ dissatisfaction with the employee buyout in July of United parent UAL Corp., a deal engineered by the machinists union and the union for United’s pilots.
