United Airlines flight attendants on Wednesday approved temporary wage cuts of 9 percent that the Elk Grove Township-based carrier says it needs to satisfy lenders providing key financing for its bankruptcy restructuring.þþThe attendants became the fourth of United's five unions to agree to pay cuts, leaving the machinists union, whose leaders refused to put proposed pay cuts to a vote by its 37,000 members, as the only holdout.þþUnited's pilots and two small unions representing dispatchers and meteorologists approved double-digit pay reductions in voting that concluded Tuesday.þþUnited has until Feb. 15 to cut costs, or it could lose the rest of $1.5 billion in debtor-in-possession financing supplied by a group of banks. It estimates it can save $70 million a month through the temporary wage cuts, meeting its lenders' strict financing requirements while gaining more time to negotiate permanent pay cuts and work-rule changes with the unions.þþFlight attendants voted overwhelmingly to accept the interim cuts. Ninety-four percent of those participating in weeklong balloting voted in favor of the agreement, the union said, though turnout among United's 24,000 flight attendants was just 62 percent.þþÿThis cut is very painful, especially since flight attendant compensation is so minimal to begin with,ÿ said Greg Davidowitch, president of the United branch of the Association of Flight Attendants. ÿFlight attendants have once again shown that we are committed to seeing our airline successfully emerge from bankruptcy.ÿþþFlight attendants, whose pay before the cuts ranged from $17,000 to $44,000 a year, said the reductions will come through the elimination of cost-of-living adjustments and an 8.16 percent cut in base wage rates.þþLike the pilots, the flight attendants also assailed the company for being ÿless than forthcomingÿ with information about its overhaul plans.þþÿRecognizing the contributions of frontline employees is a key to this process, because bankruptcy doesn't end well when the workers and management are not on the same page,ÿ Davidowitch said.þþUnited Chief Executive Glenn Tilton said he was grateful for the flight attendants' decision and pledged that the company will continue to meet and work with its unions to reach consensual agreements.þþPilots approved a 29 percent pay cut. The controllers and meteorologists will see wages slashed by 13 percent. The machinists union, however, has objected to United's proposal that its members take a 13 percent reduction, saying the company has not provided sufficient evidence why they should.þþUnited planned to file a formal response to the machinists' objections in federal court, and Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff is expected to rule Thursday or Friday on whether to impose the pay reductions on the machinists union, which represents 13,000 mechanics and 24,000 ramp, customer service and gate workers.þþA statement on the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers' Web site said the union was negotiating on longer-term reductions but will leave the temporary pay cut issue for the court to decide.þþIf the judge does impose the pay cuts for machinists, United will have until about the middle of March to resolve longer-term and deeper concessions with all unions as it plods through the bankruptcy process.þþIf not, a faster process will kick in for each union, and labor contracts could be thrown out altogether.þ
Source: Chicago Tribune
