Pilots at Hawaiian Airlines began taking a strike authorization vote yesterday, and conducted informational picketing at Honolulu Airport's interisland terminal.

Contract talks have been stalled for more than two years and the company and the pilots union have yet to reach an agreement on work-rules changes.

Voting began yesterday and will continue to Sept. 10.

Hawaiian and the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents 400 pilots at the local carrier, said progress was made last week in contract negotiations involving federal mediators in Washington.

Further talks are scheduled in October.

"Taking votes and other actions like this are not unusual during labor negotiations and have no effect on our operations," said company spokesman Keoni Wagner.

Under the federal Railway Labor Act, pilots must get approval from federal mediators supervising the contract talks and must go through a 30-day "cooling off" period before any strike action can be taken.

According to ALPA, Hawaiian is making money, expanding routes and buying new planes but is not sharing its success with its employees.

"While progress was made, Hawaiian management still insists that any salary increases over 1 percent, or other contract gains, be paid for by pilots making offsetting concessions elsewhere in the contract," the union said.

The company said it is not seeking concessions but needs work-rule changes to boost pilots' productivity, which lags that of Hawaiian's competitors.

The company said productivity improvements are necessary for Hawaiian's expansion plans, which include more than $5 billion in new Airbus aircraft and the addition of several new long-haul routes in Asia and North America.

The airline said it has offered pilots raises of about 20 percent over six years. Pilots at Hawaiian earn an average of about $150,000 a year, the company said.