This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx United Agrees on Concessions April 9, 2003 By EDWARD WONG United Airlines said yesterday that it had reached tentative agreements on concessions with five labor groups represented by the International Association of Machinists. But talks continued with the airline's mechanics, whose rejection in late November of wage and benefit concessions negotiated by machinist union leaders was one of several factors that pushed United toward its bankruptcy filing in early December. If ratified by the union's members, the agreements would give United cost savings of $445 million a year for six years through changes to wages, benefits and work rules. They would bring to at least $1.9 billion the concessions that United has obtained from unionized employees, toward the $2.56 billion a year in labor savings that the company has said it needs to avoid possibly going out of business. The agreements reached yesterday would apply to 23,000 workers, including ramp and storage workers, ticket agents, security guards, food service workers and employees in the division handling United's frequent-flier program. Union leaders will hold meetings with workers over the next three weeks to describe the contract terms, followed by voting on April 29, said Joe Tiberi, a union spokesman. The new contracts will have, among other things, a 13 percent reduction in hourly wage rates, a 20 percent co-payment toward the cost of health insurance and work rule changes to allow more use of part-time employees, the union said. Last month, United, a unit of the UAL Corporation, filed a motion in United States Bankruptcy Court in Chicago seeking to void its labor contracts and impose its own pay scales and rules if it could not get agreements from its unions. A hearing on the motion is set for next Monday. United has said it must have the concessions in place by May 1 to comply with requirements imposed by the four lenders who gave it $1.5 billion in so-called debtor-in-possession financing last December. "We were determined to prevent the worst effects of bankruptcy from being unilaterally imposed on our members," Randy Canale, president of the machinists' union, said in a statement yesterday. "A consensual recovery plan is the best way to rebuild United while preventing a court ordered `cure' from bringing far more painful terms for I.A.M. members and their families." Mr. Tiberi said that "only a few issues remain" in the union's negotiations with United about a new deal with the airline's 13,000 mechanics. "You never know until you get there," said Joe Hopkins, a United spokesman. "Both sides are working hard." The agreements reached yesterday came after recent successful negotiations between United and the pilots' and flight attendants' unions, the other two big labor groups at the airline. On March 27, United reached a tentative agreement with the pilots for concessions that the company values at $1.1 billion a year. United's 8,800 pilots are expected to vote on the agreement on Friday. Last Friday, United reached tentative agreements with its flight attendants and dispatchers. The company is seeking $314 million in annual cuts from its 24,000 flight attendants. In all its negotiations, United is trying to persuade its unions to sign off on letting the company create a low-cost carrier with the working name of Starfish. United wants to shift 30 percent of its operations to that new carrier, which would fly out of United's hubs. On those routes, United would pull down its larger planes and replace them with those of the new airline. It would also try to keep labor costs relatively low. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/09/business/09UNIT.html?ex=1050896942&ei=1&en=0af70c6e63db46ba HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company