=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2002/05/29/f= inancial1847EDT0326.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, May 29, 2002 (AP) US Airways' Siegel still hopes to secure $1 billion in loan guarantees JUDY LIN, Associated Press Writer (05-29) 16:08 PDT IMPERIAL, Pa. (AP) -- US Airways chief executive David Siegel brought his proposed restructuri= ng campaign to the ailing carrier's busiest hub Wednesday, asking workers for sacrifices in their wages to help the airline avoid bankruptcy. Siegel, who spoke to workers inside one of the airline's hangars near Pittsburgh International Airport, pledged to develop a plan with employee input so that "we are fair and equitably sharing the pain." US Airways, the nation's seventh-largest carrier, has said it needs to c= ut $1.3 billion in annual costs to qualify for federal loan guarantees offered to airlines after Sept. 11. Siegel said $950 million of that needs to come from labor costs while the remaining $350 million will come from management cuts and supplier concessions. Siegel, who is touring US Airways hubs to sell the plan to its 34,000 workers, declined to specify where wage cuts would be targeted, saying he doesn't want to pit segments of the airline, such as pilots and maintenance workers, against one another. "We don't want infighting among our groups," he said. "Everyone has to participate." The company, however, has said it plans to ask higher-paid employees to bear a greater share of the cuts to protect lower-paid employees. US Airways officials have said the airline would go from having the highest paid employees in the industry to ranking about sixth or seventh. While the government has set a June 28 deadline for airlines to apply for the loan guarantees, Siegel said the bill that was passed by the House of Representatives last week would not help US Airways because it delays payments until October. The Arlington, Va.-based carrier plans to begin implementing the massive restructuring plan this summer. Siegel said a successful restructuring depends largely on a requested $1 billion in federal loan guarantees coming through. US Airways is currently lobbying the Senate not to delay the payments or cut the overall loan program from a proposed $10 billion to $4 billion. Whether the government offers any bailout, Siegel said US Airways needs = to reduce its costs, which are high compared to the industry as a whole, in order to be more competitive. That left workers at the hangar feeling they have little choice but to accept the wage cuts. "Been there, done that," said Martina Helbling, 38, an office services worker who was furloughed in September and rehired in January. "If we want the job we have to give." Helbling is among roughly 12,000 US Airways workers in southwestern Pennsylvania, among 17,000 across the state. On the Net: investor.usairways.com =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 AP