United: Givebacks must go deeper By Marilyn Adams, USA TODAY United Airlines' chief financial officer says he doubts the carrier will=20 get the $1.8 billion in government loan guarantees it's seeking without=20 "broader and deeper" concessions from labor. The Air Line Pilots=20 Association has agreed to concessions totaling $520 million over three=20 years. United also cut management and salaried workers' pay $430 million=20 over three years, for a total of $950 million in labor-cost cuts. "The=20 sentiment we're feeling is that the level of participation ... needs to be= =20 deeper and broader," CFO Jake Brace said in an interview. He said United=20 might revise its application to improve its chances but wouldn't elaborate.= =20 Brace has been meeting with Air Transportation Stabilization Board staff=20 and other Washington officials on United's application. United's largest union, the International Association of Machinists, and=20 the flight attendants union have rejected proposals for pay cuts. A meeting= =20 between United and IAM officials is planned this week, the union said.=20 United, the world's second-largest airline, lost two jets Sept. 11. UAL,=20 its parent company, posted a record $2.1 billion net loss last year, $851=20 million in losses in the first half of this year and is warning of=20 third-quarter losses. Its share price has taken a ferocious beating,=20 closing at $5.22 Thursday. UAL's stock-market value is a little more than=20 $500 million =97 about a fourth the value of discount airline JetBlue. It=20 flies fewer than 30 jets while United has 561. Brace and United's investment banker said in a joint interview that the=20 airline sought government help only after getting shut out of the capital=20 markets. Brace said the only loan United has been able to close since Sept.= =20 11 was $775 million in private financing in January, which was used to pay= =20 off another loan coming due. Earlier this week, a Northwest Airlines=20 official implied other airlines had the same access to financing as his.=20 "Northwest is flat-out wrong," Brace said. "If there were a public source=20 of funding available, we would have tapped it," said Gerry Pasciucco, a=20 managing director at Morgan Stanley who has accompanied United in meetings= =20 with the government. "Anyone who says the airline doesn't need the money is= =20 in a dream world." United must repay $900 million in debt this fall and has= =20 hired bankruptcy lawyers in case a Chapter 11 filing is needed. Even its own employees want collateral: United pledged its Chicago-area=20 headquarters building and other assets to guarantee $500 million in=20 retroactive pay it owes IAM members under a new contract. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (TnT Medical Assn.) http://www.tntmedical.com/ (Trinidad & Tobago Medical Association) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************