UAL could move to void union contracts=20 (Reuters) =97 UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, said Tuesday it intends to file a bankruptcy court motion to throw out its labor agreements as early as next week if unions do not agree to wage cuts.=20 UAL attorney Jamie Sprayregen told a U.S. bankruptcy judge Tuesday that United plans to continue working with its unions to achieve wage cuts. But without them, he said, the carrier would file a motion under Section 1113 of Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code on Dec. 26.=20 The filing, Sprayregen said, would be necessary to ensure the airline remains in compliance with the requirements of its debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing agreements.=20 The airline on Friday said it needs to cut annual labor costs by $2.4 billion in order to satisfy lenders' financing conditions, and the pilots union on Monday said it was ''stunned'' by the proposal.=20 United, the No. 2 U.S. airline based in Elk Grove Township, Illinois, filed the largest bankruptcy in aviation history last week. The company's shares closed down 23 cents, or more than 15 percent, at $1.27 on the New York Stock Exchange.=20 Tilton: UAL needs deep wage cuts=20 United Chief Executive Glenn Tilton said Tuesday the bankrupt airline needs much deeper wage cuts than had been sought in a failed bid for federal loan guarantees, in order to give it long term stability and compete with low cost airlines.=20 United stunned its union workers last week by proposing cuts more than double what it had sought just days before filing the largest ever bankruptcy case in aviation history on Dec. 9.=20 Tilton did not disclose details of the latest wage cut proposal in a letter to employees released Tuesday, but said the earlier plan for the Air Transportation Stabilization Board loan guarantees would have provided only temporary stability.=20 ``Simply put, the plan submitted to the ATSB was designed to stabilize the company,'' Tilton said. ``However, we knew there was more to do going forward. What we are seeking now is to transform the company for the long term and to make that transformation sustainable.''=20 United had asked workers to shoulder $5.2 billion of cuts over 5-1/2 years for the loan guarantees, or about $1 billion a year. However, United's flight attendants union has said the airline now wants about $2.4 billion per year in wage cuts.=20 The union that represents some 37,500 machinists has said United now wants 13 percent wage cuts, compared with 6 percent or 7 percent cuts under the prior plan. About 80 percent of United's 83,000 workers are represented by unions. Pilots and machinists have seats on the company's board of directors.=20 The airline needs immediate cuts to satisfy lenders who provided financing to help sustain United during the restructuring, Tilton said.=20 Tilton also said United must broaden its service to become attractive to more potential passengers and make significant cost cuts so direct competition with low fare airlines will still be profitable.=20 ``We must take on the competitive threat of low cost carriers that are attacking a large percent of United's route structure in the United States,'' Tilton said. ``They are growing, we are not and the market is not, that means their growth is coming from us. Their growth comes from us because they can make a profit on a fare that we can't."=20