=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2004/03/19/f= inancial0821EST0019.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, March 19, 2004 (AP) United Airlines, flight attendants spar over finding DAVE CARPENTER, AP Business Writer (03-19) 05:21 PST CHICAGO (AP) -- United Airlines is facing worsened relations with its flight attendants after a bankruptcy court-appointed examiner found in its favor in a dispute over its decision to cut retiree health care benefits. Independent examiner Ross Silverman said in the 40-page report that despite conflicting accounts about the airline's comments on the matter during union negotiations a year ago, United did not mislead employees about its plans in order to get flight attendants to retire early last summer. Silverman said United made the decision to reduce benefits no earlier th= an Dec. 15, after it discovered a $456 million budget gap due to updated projections of 2004 operating expenses. He said there also was no evidence that the airline had a financial incentive to induce flight attendants to retire. The report was filed with the court Thursday and scheduled to be formally presented to Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff at United's monthly bankruptcy court hearing Friday. The airline praised the ruling, but union officials said it may only make the relationship between the two sides more contentious. The contends that the report shows United likely intended to seek the changes all along and said the airline clearly withheld vital information at a time when employees were agreeing to huge contract concessions. "While we take some small comfort that United did not commit outright fraud, the flight attendants are still deeply disturbed that the examiner's report exposes a pattern of bad-faith bargaining and deception by United Airlines," union president Greg Davidowitch said. Flight attendants' spokeswoman Sara Nelson Dela Cruz said United's deception may have "irreparably harmed" relations with the employees. Peter McDonald, United's executive vice president for operations, howeve= r, said the findings make clear the company told the truth. "The allegations from the Association of Flight Attendants were a distraction that led to a colossal waste of time and resources, and the examiner's report is an emphatic repudiation of those baseless claims," he said. On the Net: www.united.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 AP