US Airways furloughs 2,500, seeks more cost cuts NEW YORK (Reuters) =97 US Airways Group, which is operating under Chapter 11= =20 bankruptcy protection, said Tuesday it will furlough another 2,500 workers= =20 over the next three months as it looks for new ways to cut costs. The=20 airline said it had started meeting with its unionized labor groups to talk= =20 about possible changes in work rules and other measures that could slash=20 more costs but still adhere to protections US Airways gave its workers when= =20 they signed cheaper contracts. The furloughs, which US Airways said will=20 affect all of its work groups, come on top of $1.3 billion in annual cost=20 savings already secured by the airline as it restructures. Furloughed=20 workers are essentially laid off, but are given hiring priority if the=20 airline fills job spots in the future. US Airways has said it needs to cut= =20 as much as $1.6 billion a year to offset its disappointing revenue growth.= =20 It plans to file its plan of reorganization by mid-December and emerge from= =20 bankruptcy in March. "Our airline has some of the most inefficient work rules in the industry=20 that drive up our costs in ways we can no longer afford in this new, tough= =20 revenue environment," US Airways' President and Chief Executive David=20 Siegel said in a written statement. US Airways, which said it currently has= =20 about 35,000 active workers, has already trimmed its employee base by=20 almost 2,500 jobs since it filed for bankruptcy in August. Its workforce is= =20 nearly 30% smaller than it had been before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. US=20 Airways said it was still committed to preserving some jobs by keeping all= =20 of the current 279 aircraft in its fleet. The airline has rejected scores=20 of aircraft leases to whittle down its passenger capacity and save on=20 expenses. But stubbornly low air fares and softer demand, particularly from= =20 business travelers, has battered airlines' forecasts for revenue growth and= =20 forced US Airways to be more creative with its cost cutting. To save money through changes in work rules, airlines can replace=20 overqualified workers in certain positions with lower-paid workers, for=20 example, or ask crews to work more hours. "The good news is that changing=20 some of these rules will make us more competitive, without the need to=20 further reduce pay rates," Siegel said. Roy Freundlich, a spokesman for the= =20 Air Line Pilots Association, said talks between pilots and the airline over= =20 any such changes were in their infancy. "It's really something that has not= =20 even begun to be addressed, Freundlich said. "Right now, we might not agree= =20 to anything." He had not heard how many pilots, if any, were affected by the furloughs.=20 The airline said it will immediately close a heavy maintenance hangar in=20 Tampa, while a reservations call center in Orlando will shut down on Jan.=20 10. Workers with seniority at those locations will be able to move to other= =20 operations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. 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: (nalis) http://www.nalis.gov.tt (T&T National Library & Information System Authority) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************