United pilots approve 29% pay cut CHICAGO (AP) =97 United Airlines' pilots have approved the 29% interim pay= =20 cuts proposed by the carrier as part of its push to slash costs heavily in= =20 bankruptcy, the pilots' union said Tuesday. Totals from the weeklong voting= =20 were not announced. The 8,800 pilots are the first of United's employee groups to approve wage= =20 cuts and, as the highest-paid, will see the most taken out of their=20 paychecks even if other unions follow suit. While longer-term reductions=20 are negotiated, they will give up scheduled raises and take immediate pay=20 cuts. United's flight attendants also have been voting since last week on=20 whether to accept a 9% wage reduction, as agreed to by union leaders. Two=20 smaller unions, representing flight dispatchers and meteorologists, also=20 are conducting ratification votes. Results from those votes are expected to= =20 be announced Wednesday. The Machinists' union, however, has objected to United's proposal that its= =20 members take 13% pay cuts, saying the company has not provided sufficient=20 evidence that double-digit reductions are needed. United says it must reduce wages by $2.4 billion a year through 2008. It=20 plans to file a response to the machinists in federal bankruptcy court on=20 Wednesday. Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff then is expected to rule later=20 this week on whether to impose the pay reductions on the machinists =97=20 37,000 mechanics, baggage handlers and other ground workers. United has=20 said that if Wedoff doesn't impose the pay reductions on the machinists or= =20 any other union fails to ratify them, it will begin the legal process of=20 nullifying the labor contracts and imposing new ones. Top leaders of the=20 International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers began=20 negotiating with the company Tuesday in Chicago, although a spokesman said= =20 there was no change in the union's opposition to United's proposed=20 temporary cuts. "Regardless how the judge rules, United's request for=20 long-term reductions still needs to be addressed," union spokesman Joseph=20 Tiberi said. United, the world's second-largest carrier, filed for Chapter= =20 11 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 9 after losing $4 billion since the middle= =20 of 2000. It hopes to emerge from bankruptcy sometime next year. Shares in=20 United rose 3 cents to $1.38 each in afternoon trading on the New York=20 Stock Exchange. *************************************************** 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: http://www.hilofoodstores.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************