The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Friday said 93 percent of Delta Comair flight attendants voted to authorize a strike.
Comair, a regional unit of bankrupt Delta Air Lines, has asked the bankruptcy court in New York to allow it to void its contract with the flight attendants.
The hearings in this matter are scheduled to begin on Monday.
Delta Comair has demanded pay cuts of approximately $10,880 annually -- up to 30 percent of an average Comair flight attendant's salary.
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The union wanted to be ready to strike in case a federal bankruptcy court approves Comair's request to void the company's agreement with the union and Comair imposes concessions it is seeking from the 1,000 flight attendants.
Comair has said it needs to cut costs by about $70 million overall to remain competitive. A message was left Friday night with the airline.
The company had been seeking to reduce average flight attendant pay by 24.6 percent. In a letter to union members Friday, Comair offered to ease the pay cut to 16.7 percent in exchange for creating up to 100 part-time flight attendant positions and other considerations involving pension contributions and medical costs.
Flight attendants have said the concessions would cut much deeper into their wages, benefits and work rules than the concessions demanded of Comair's pilots and mechanics.
A hearing on the company's motion and the union's opposition to it is scheduled to begin Monday in New York.
Comair, based in Erlanger, Ky., near Cincinnati, is wholly owned by Atlanta-based Delta. About 5,000 of its 7,000 workers are based at nearby Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Flight attendants there and at airports in the New York area and Orlando, Fla., will ask Sky Miles members to sign a petition protesting Comair's demands next week, the union said.
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