United granted access to $800M By Marilyn Adams, USA TODAY CHICAGO =97 A federal judge gave United Airlines final approval Monday to= tap=20 $800 million in bankruptcy financing it needs to keep flying. But getting=20 the other $700 million in cash from lenders hinges on a complex set of=20 steps falling into place in the next weeks and months. United, which has=20 lost about $4 billion since mid-2000, sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy=20 protection Dec. 9. Lenders have agreed to provide $1.5 billion for=20 restructuring if the carrier meets strict earnings and cost-savings goals=20 starting in February. To meet those demands, United is seeking $2.4 billion= =20 a year in labor cost savings. Last week, it reached agreements with leaders= =20 of several of its unions to cut pay starting Wednesday. But its largest=20 union, the International Association of Machinists, representing 37,000 of= =20 United's 80,000 workers, has been holding out. United has asked bankruptcy= =20 Judge Eugene Wedoff to give it the right to impose pay cuts on all workers= =20 if necessary. IAM said it will file an objection to that request today.=20 United will have about a week to respond before the judge rules. United wants a 13% pay cut from IAM members, who include mechanics. But=20 IAM, whose members won new contracts and significant raises a few months=20 ago, has been unwilling to negotiate. Last weekend, pilots union leaders=20 agreed to a 29% pay cut, and flight attendants officials to about 9%. Both= =20 measures are subject to a vote by members, which will take until Jan. 8. If= =20 passed, they will be retroactive to Wednesday. The pay cuts would give a=20 huge boost to United's cash flow. The airline says the cuts, including=20 those for IAM, would save it about $70 million a month. But if any of the=20 unions reject the cuts, United will seek the court's permission to force=20 the issue, and that brings a risk of labor turmoil. To restructure and=20 emerge from Chapter 11, United needs more than pay cuts from its workers in= =20 the next few months. The airline also wants controversial, broad changes in= =20 labor contract language to reduce staffing, allow more outsourcing of=20 maintenance and permit more flying of small, efficient regional jets. United also has told the unions it wants a two-tier wage scale so it can=20 launch a national, low-cost, low-fare airline subsidiary to compete with=20 discounters Southwest, Frontier, JetBlue and others. While it's asking=20 unions for pay cuts, United won approval Monday to hire a host of expensive= =20 advisers, including restructuring consultants, a public relations firm,=20 accountants and regulatory and labor lawyers. It also will hire=20 aircraft-financing experts to help it negotiate sharp cuts in its=20 aircraft-lease payments. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) : escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: www.tobagoweddings.com/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************