=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/06/27/s= tate1338EDT7921.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, June 27, 2003 (AP) Alaska Air execs take pay cuts while seeking union concessions (06-27) 10:38 PDT SEATTLE (AP) -- Top executives of Alaska Airlines say they will take substantial pay cuts while seeking worker concessions to return the West Coast regional carrier to profitability. Chief executive William J. Ayer told union leaders this week that he will cut his own pay by 20 percent, Jack Walsh, Alaska Airlines spokesman, said Friday. Three other executives -- George Bagley, executive vice president of operations; Gregg Saretsky, executive vice president of marketing and planning, and Bradley D. Tilden, chief financial officer, will take 15 percent cuts, Walsh said. According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ayer's salary, bonus and other compensation totaled $475,644 last year. He has since been promoted to chairman of Alaska Air Group, parent corporation of Alaska and Horizon Airlines. Bagley's total compensation last year was $359,418, Saretsky received $324,463 and Tilden got $318,262. The company previously announced that five unions representing Alaska Airlines employees have been asked to accept pay cuts and work rule changes. The company has achieved or will soon realize cost cuts that total $120 million in savings, Ayer wrote in a letter posted on Alaska Airlines' employee Web site. The airline believes it may have identified another $75 million in cuts. But it still wants to achieve another $112 million in savings by working with its unions to adjust wages, standardize health and retirement benefits across the company and identify other ways to make the airline more efficient, Ayer wrote. Other cost-cutting measures Alaska Airlines is considering include eliminating first-class seating, free meals and marginal routes, Ayer said in his letter. The airline has not been profitable for three years amid an industry slu= mp and wants to reduce expenses by about 15 percent, to 7.25 cents per available seat mile, excluding fuel costs, by 2005. Several larger airlines have persuaded employees to accept pay wage cuts during bankruptcy or under the threat of bankruptcy. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP