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United's Union Deals Unraveling

April 11, 2005

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United Airlines' struggle to emerge from bankruptcy hit unexpected turbulence over the weekend when the airline's flight attendants threatened to walk away from negotiated contract givebacks. The airline is counting on those cost savings to stay aloft.

United flight attendants, members of the Association of Flight Attendants, charged that management has refused to make the same sacrifices being asked of union members. The flight attendants said they would disavow their earlier agreement with the airline unless executives cut their own pay and benefits within the next 20 days.

"Our members agreed to huge sacrifices to help our company survive," union president Greg Davidowitch said in the statement. "By refusing to substantiate the concessions by the salaried and management employees, the entire restructuring plan is called into question."

A spokesman for United denied the union's charges and said cuts have been spread among all employees, including management.

The struggling "legacy" airline is trying to wrangle $725 million in labor cost savings to help it get out of bankruptcy. While the company says all employees are accepting pay and benefit cuts, the flight attendants' union says it has seen no evidence that non-union workers have agreed to accept the cutbacks.

Early in 2005 the flight attendants' union approved a new five-year contract cutting their hourly wages by 11.8 percent. It was the second time they had been asked for concessions in two years, and members were not happy about it. If the renegotiated contract is rejected, the union said the previous agreement would be in force.

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