Pilots union blasts UAL plan By Marilyn Adams, USA TODAY Even before UAL has issued a reorganization plan, the airline company's proposal to create a low-fare carrier is prompting outrage from its powerful pilots union. The chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association on Wednesday blasted what he called "rumors" of a reorganization plan that he said could break up the airline in bankruptcy court. Paul Whiteford, a United captain who is also a UAL director, said leaders of the union fear United's proposing to create a separate low-fare airline with a separate workforce and separate labor contract that could be "spun off" from UAL. The directors are scheduled Thursday to review United's preliminary reorganization plan. UAL, which has been a majority employee-owned company since 1994, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 9. "I'm more than willing to give United the tools it needs" to emerge from bankruptcy, Whiteford said in an interview. "But I won't have discussions about a separate airline that could be spun off. We will oppose management's breakup plan by every lawful means available to us." The stinging remarks caught UAL executives by surprise. UAL hasn't released details of its plan. But the airline said in a statement Wednesday night that a low-fare carrier "integrated" into its network is critical to its future. People familiar with the planning say UAL envisions a division or subsidiary with a separate brand, workforce and pay scale that would operate flights between leisure destinations, such as Orlando, and United's hub airports, such as Chicago O'Hare. Passengers could transfer to regular United flights. It wasn't clear Wednesday whether United seeks a separate labor agreement with employees of the new low-fare unit to keep costs down. Whiteford criticized UAL for failing to negotiate a new contract with his union in a "meaningful" way. UAL responded it has held "dozens" of meetings and shared "thousands of pages" of documents with union leaders. His angry tone was the most visible sign yet that labor and management aren't communicating or that UAL might not get the labor-contract concessions it wants without a court fight. Whiteford's statement comes just weeks after 92% of his members voted to take temporary 29% pay cuts to help United trim costs quickly in bankruptcy. The airline went to court to extract 14% pay cuts from members of its largest union, the International Association of Machinists, which refused to take voluntary cuts. UAL has made clear it's willing to ask the bankruptcy court for permission to break its labor contracts if necessary. UAL executives have said that an initiative to address stiff competition from low-fare airlines must be a significant part of its business plan for survival. The discount unit, they have said, would fly Boeing 737s, like Southwest Airlines, and require lower labor costs than United's main line. *************************************************** 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.pichemas.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************