Judge orders temporary pay cuts for UAL machinists=20 =20 Friday January 10, 9:58 AM EST=20 (Adds details from court order, background) By Kathy Fieweger CHICAGO, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Friday ordered temporary 13 percent pay cuts for unionized machinists at United Airlines, buying the airline more time to negotiate broad concessions at its entire unionized work force. United, a unit of UAL Corp. (UAL) and the world's second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 9. Since then, four of the carrier's five unions had agreed to temporary pay cuts to help the airline reorganize and meet specific financing requirements by lenders. But the International Association of Machinists, representing about 37,000 workers, argued to the judge that the airline had not shown why the cuts were needed now. =20 In his ruling issued on Friday morning, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff agreed with the airline that changes to the IAM's collective bargaining agreements were "essential, at the present time, to continue United Air Lines Inc.'s business and to avoid irreparable damage to its estate." Wedoff said to be fair to the other unions, which agreed to take pay cuts effective Jan. 1, the IAM union members' pay will actually be cut by 14 percent from Friday until May 1. That would be equivalent to the 13 percent reduction retroactively to Jan. 1 that the company was seeking, he wrote. Pilots' pay is being cut the most, at 29 percent, and flight attendants' salaries are being trimmed by 9 percent. Smaller unions representing flight dispatchers and meteorologists are also taking 13 percent cuts. United has about 80,000 employees, nearly 80 percent of whom are represented by labor unions. AIRLINE SAVING $80 MILLION A MONTH The airline, based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, had some of the highest labor costs in the industry as it headed into bankruptcy. Already hurt by a slowdown in lucrative business travel, United saw its losses balloon after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington and ultimately was not able to keep enough cash to pay various debt obligations. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters the magnitude of the pay cuts now secured from the unions represents the total amount of what was needed to meet requirements of loans known as debtor-in-possession financing. The labor savings represent about $80 million per month in cash, he said. Now, the airline has until May to make sweeping changes to work rules that unions follow, he said. The institutions that have loaned United a total $1.5 billion to keep flying in bankruptcy are J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Bank One (ONE) and CIT Group (CIT).=20 =A92002 Reuters Limited.=20