(Reuters) – Alaska Airlines flight attendants can hope for an average pay increase of 32 percent over three years under a new, tentative collective bargaining agreement with the airline, a union representing the workers said.

The agreement, which still needs to be ratified by Associated of Flight Attendants union members, is also the first to make boarding salaries legally binding for unionized flight attendants, the union said on Tuesday.

Flight attendants in the United States are typically paid an hourly wage after the cabin doors close and do not include the time it takes for passengers to board.

“With the boarding school allowance we can achieve significant wage increases,” the union said.

Alaska Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The new tentative three-year contract comes as pilots and flight attendants across U.S. airlines are demanding better pay and benefits after the pandemic brought the industry to a standstill and the resulting pent-up travel demand drove record profits for airlines.

In February, Alaska Airlines flight crews issued a strike mandate for the first time in three decades.

The provisional collective agreement, which avoids a possible strike, provides for benefits such as improvements in holiday and overtime pay as well as retroactive wage payments for 20 months.

The vote on ratification of the agreement will take place later this month and end on August 14.

(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)