CHICAGO, March 12 (Bloomberg News) — United Airlines which is in the midst of bankruptcy reorganization, said today that it was willing to negotiate with its unions on worker concessions beyond a March deadline. þþUnited told its creditors' committee that it expected to file for relief from labor contracts on Monday, though it would keep negotiating beyond then if necessary.þþThe company also said it had $1 million in positive cash flow in January. þþUnited is trying to get $2.56 billion in annual wage, benefit and work rule concessions to become a competitive, profitable airline. The company expects to emerge from bankruptcy by the middle of 2004, though it will re-evaluate that goal after the labor situation is resolved. þþÿMay 1 is an important date for UAL because we must have the labor cost reduction required to meet our debtor-in-possession loan covenants in place at that time,ÿ a spokesman, Chris Brathwaite, said. ÿMarch 17 is simply a technical deadline.ÿ þUnited met the terms of the loan covenant in December and January, and it does not have sufficient data yet to evaluate February, the company told creditors today. þþThe mid-March date is the date by which the company must file a motion for relief from existing labor contracts under bankruptcy law.þþUnited and the unions said that they were still seeking to renegotiate contracts before the time that the court could allow the airline to impose terms. þþThe United Association of Flight Attendants union told its members that a decision on the motion might not come for up to seven weeks after it is filed. A hearing would follow the motion within two to three weeks and then the bankruptcy court could take up to another four weeks to make its decision. þþþ
Source: NY Times
