United sets May 1 deadline to scrap labor contracts CHICAGO (AP) =97 United Airlines has dramatically raised the stakes in its= =20 bid to slash the airline industry's highest labor costs. Stalled in its=20 urgent effort to negotiate new long-term contracts, the bankrupt carrier=20 asked a bankruptcy judge Monday to scrap all of the union pacts unless new= =20 agreements can be worked out by May 1. While that gives all sides more than= =20 six weeks to work out deals, United's move provoked immediate criticism=20 from some of its biggest unions. The pilots' and flight attendants' unions= =20 said the company was using the bankruptcy process to seek far deeper cuts=20 than are needed to make it successful again. If agreements aren't in place= =20 by the May 1 deadline, the requested ruling by Judge Eugene Wedoff would=20 enable United to impose its own, stricter terms, helping it stay on its=20 lenders' timetable to show progress in bankruptcy or lose its financing.=20 That would send ripples through the beleaguered airline industry, where=20 other troubled carriers are closely watching United's efforts to lower=20 costs in hopes of making their own severe labor cost reductions. It also would effectively wipe out decades' worth of negotiated contract=20 provisions at United, the world's second-largest airline. Nullifying=20 contracts is generally avoided in the industry, in part because of the=20 danger of alienating employees at a time when labor turmoil can doom a=20 struggling carrier. United also said the recent slowdown in travel and=20 bookings because of Iraqi war fears will force it to further reduce=20 employees' interim wages by 9% or more within a month if it doesn't get=20 "sufficient relief" from either the government or its lenders. The airline= =20 has warned since January, when it secured interim wage cuts worth $70=20 million a month in savings, that it would begin the contract-scrapping=20 process if unions didn't agree to concessions by mid-March. But the talks=20 with unions remain bogged down over both the size of United's requested=20 labor cuts =97 31%, or $2.56 billion annually, through 2008 =97 and its plan= to=20 start a low-fare carrier, which would entail a lower wage scale and=20 separate work rules. United emphasized in an announcement that its priority= =20 remains on negotiated contracts but that it had to file the motion Monday=20 to ensure that the necessary cost savings are in place by May. "Between now and May 1st, we will continue to negotiate around the clock in= =20 the belief that we can reach consensual agreements with all of our union=20 groups and render a ruling from the court unnecessary," said chief=20 executive Glenn Tilton. "However, all of us will have to accept changes=20 that are broad and deep, and those changes require that we take an entirely= =20 new approach to competing and succeeding in this changed industry." All=20 three main unions said they would work to reach negotiated contract=20 settlements. A top Machinists' union official said in a posting to members= =20 that time remains for consensual agreements with United and a successful=20 restructuring. Randy Canale, chairman of District 141 representing baggage= =20 handlers and public contact workers, said negotiations "will continue=20 throughout this period in a nonstop effort to make action on today's court= =20 application unnecessary. We trust you share our strong belief that this=20 great airline should not be destroyed in order to save it." But pilots' union leader Paul Whiteford said he was "extremely dismayed"=20 and called United's proposal an "overreach" in terms of the cuts it=20 envisions. "Our contract is the product of 52 years of good-faith=20 collective bargaining conducted under federal labor law," he said. "To seek= =20 to wipe out this contract by the stroke of a judge's pen is disheartening."= =20 The Association of Flight Attendants was similarly critical. "United's=20 motion goes far beyond what's needed to successfully restructure in an=20 attempt to gut our contract, and places an inordinate burden on the flight= =20 attendants," said union president Greg Davidowitch. In January, United's=20 pilots agreed to take temporary 29% pay cuts, flight attendants to 9% wage= =20 reductions and dispatchers and meteorologists to 13%. Wedoff imposed=20 temporary 13% pay cuts on the machinists after they rejected the carrier's= =20 proposal for emergency reductions. Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based United=20 filed the industry's largest bankruptcy on Dec. 9 after sustaining heavy=20 losses since 2000. It posted a record $3.2 billion loss for 2002. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx 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.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************