From Seattle PI:

Alaska Airlines pilots Tuesday decided to form a strike preparedness committee to handle a possible strike or job action against the Seattle-based airline.

However, a strike is not imminent, the airline said.

Alaska Airlines and its sister company, Horizon Air, carry half the passengers at Sea-Tac Airport, making parent company Alaska Air Group the airport's largest carrier.

The roughly 1,500 pilots for Alaska have been in union negotiations with Alaska Airlines management since January 2007. A federal mediator began participating in August, but both sides have failed to reach an agreement.

Horizon Air pilots operate under a different contract, which is being negotiated separately with a different union.

The strike preparedness committee is a renaming of the strategic planning committee, with a changed focus toward preparing for a job action. The committee's goal, however, remains the same: to reach an agreement, according to the Air Line Pilots Association International union.

"We continue to seek solutions that both reflect the needs of our pilots while ensuring the future success of our company, but our management continues to insist upon a contract that is increasingly regressive," union chairman Capt. Bill Shivers said in a statement. "This is not the path to an agreement. This is the path to a strike."

Sticking points in the negotiations are job security regarding outsourcing, the retirement plan, health care and compensation, the union said.

Airline industry workers cannot strike as easily as in other industries, as contract negotiations are regulated under the federal Railway Labor Act.

"While it's a common tactic for a union to publicize strike preparedness activities during negotiations, there is no possibility for a strike during this time," Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Caroline Boren said. "Federal rules govern contract negotiations in the airline industry. It can take many months or years before employees would be allowed to take any action, before they'd be allowed to interrupt our service. We want customers to understand that."

Both sides have made progress, Boren said. Continued sessions with the federal mediator are scheduled for January and February, she said.

"Putting our airline in jeopardy during these tough economic times by agreeing to a contract that we could not afford would not be in anyone's best interest, including our pilots'," Boren said. "The process takes time. ... We are continuing to offer various options that could help toward reaching agreement."

The pilots are still working under their old contract, which became amendable in May 2007. Under federal law, airline pilots' contracts do not expire; rather, they become amendable.

Industrywide, it takes an average of 17 months to reach an agreement after a contract becomes amendable, Boren said.

The union appeared less optimistic about progress with negotiations.

"The negotiations have reached a point where little to no progress is being made despite the involvement of the mediator," union spokeswoman Jenn Farrell said. "Alaska Airlines management has demonstrated that unless the pilots have a contract that ensures that they will be a part of the company's success, they'll be excluded from it."

She said a strike could occur in 2009, but did not give a date because too many variables make the future hard to predict.