United begins union negotiations CHICAGO (AP) =97 United Airlines has begun negotiating with the= International=20 Association of Machinists on a union coalition proposal to cut $5 billion=20 from labor costs and keep the carrier out of bankruptcy court. United said= =20 Wednesday that it will negotiate individually with each of the coalition=20 members, starting with machinists. The company's five employee unions=20 submitted the joint proposal last month. The proposal came in response to a= =20 United recovery plan announced in August that included $9 billion in labor= =20 cost savings over six years. Elk Grove Village, Ill-based United has said=20 it needs major concessions to secure a $1.8 billion government loan=20 guarantee and avoid bankruptcy. United said in a statement it is "studying= =20 the proposal in an attempt to adapt it to an updated Air Transportation=20 Stabilization Board submittal." United's new chairman and chief executive,= =20 Glenn Tilton, hasn't publicly proposed a figure for concessions. But he has= =20 called the $9 billion in cuts urged by his predecessor reasonable. The=20 International Association of Machinists represents 35,900 ground workers at= =20 the company. Spokesmen for the union did not return several calls for=20 comment. Representatives of the pilots' and flight attendants' unions also= =20 could not be reached for comment. Shares of United's parent, UAL Corp.,=20 fell 21 cents to close at $1.87 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. 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: (ReadyMix) http://www.readymix.co.tt/ (ReadyMix Cement Ltd) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************