The flight attendants' union at United Airlines voted yesterday to accept wage and benefit cuts worth $314 million a year over the next six years.þþThe union, which represents 19,000 workers, finished voting in the afternoon and quickly announced the results, bolstering United's effort to restructure in bankruptcy court and emerge as a company that can compete with low-cost airlines.þþAnother important unionized labor group, the machinists, were expected to finish their voting last night at midnight. United is seeking concessions of $794 million a year from them and they could prove more of a problem for the company, because one subset of the union — the mechanics — has traditionally been the most militant employee group.þþUnited is seeking $2.56 billion in annual givebacks from its workers.þþThe contract ratification by the flight attendants is the second significant labor victory this month for United, a unit of the UAL Corporation. On April 11, 82 percent of the Air Line Pilots Association voted to accept concessions equal to $1.1 billion a year.þþThe pilots have the most to lose from having their labor contracts negated by a bankruptcy judge, should United ask for that.þþThe Association of Flight Attendants said yesterday that more than 63 percent of eligible attendants at United voted, and three-quarters of those supported the new contract.þþÿThe sacrifices borne by the front-line employees in ratifying concessions that will affect our wages, benefits, pensions and work rules will have a harsh effect on our work lives and our families,ÿ Greg Davidowitch, president of the United flight attendants' union, said in a statement yesterday.þþFlight attendants make an average of $32,000 a year, said Sara Dela Cruz, a spokeswoman for the union. The new contract would force attendants to take a wage cut of 9 percent, in addition to cuts in vacation time, health benefits and work rules.þþFlight attendants will be able to take part in a profit-sharing plan.þþChris Brathwaite, a spokesman for United, said that ÿthe ratification of these agreements by the A.F.A. is an important step in providing the cost improvements, productivity changes and operational flexibility United needs to emerge from bankruptcy and succeed in the long-term.ÿþþThe International Association of Machinists also held a broad membership vote yesterday. That union is divided into two smaller bargaining units — one represents five labor groups that include baggage handlers and the other represents mechanics. The first group, encompasses 23,000 workers, voted on $445 million a year in concessions.þþThe second group, representing about 10,000 workers, is the more unpredictable one. Last Thanksgiving it surprised executives and the other unions by voting against concessions. That was one of several factors that contributed to United filing for bankruptcy protection early the next month.þþYesterday, the mechanics considered concessions of $349 million a year over six years. They would take a 13 percent wage reduction, pay 20 percent of their health insurance costs and perform under different work rules that would increase productivity.þþUnited is working on a tight time line to get in place the concessions. The airline has said it needs to have the cuts start tomorrow because it must meet certain cash liquidity conditions to obtain part of $1.5 billion in financing that four lenders agreed to give it right before it filed for bankruptcy protection.þþIf the unions do not vote in favor of the concessions, the airline has said it will ask the bankruptcy judge to allow it to void the labor contracts. þþThe judge has scheduled a court hearing for this morning.þþ
Source: NY Times
