CHICAGO (AP) -- Trying to avert a threatened strike, United Airlines and its machinists' union negotiated through the night as an unofficial Friday deadline neared for resolving a standoff over a new long-term contract.þþThe International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said negotiators remained at the bargaining table at 7:30 a.m. EDT, hoping to resolve remaining differences over a new lower-cost pension plan before the conclusion of a bankruptcy-court trial.þþThat proceeding, on United's proposal to impose pay and benefit cuts without the union's consent, could end any time after closing arguments which were scheduled to begin Friday. A ruling by Judge Eugene Wedoff was possible any time after that, and the union representing 20,000 machinists say they will walk off the job if he approves the company's plan to abrogate the contract.þþUnited, a unit of Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based UAL Corp., is seeking annual concessions totaling $176 million over five years from machinists to complete a targeted $700 million in labor cost reductions.þþThe IAM presented testimony from two witnesses at the court session Thursday to bolster its argument that United is asking for excessive concessions from its workers.þþTom Roth, the president of Alexandria, Va.-based Labor Bureau Inc. and a consultant for the IAM, said IAM workers are being asked to shoulder an unfair share -- 25 percent -- of the cutbacks in part because United is undervaluing the concessions made by the group in previous contract changes.þþ''We are looking at a group here that is the least paid, the lowest average paid, has the lowest total compensation, and yet they're asked to take the largest cut,'' Roth said.þþTom Brickner, a top IAM negotiator in current talks as the union's airline coordinator, said United has not bargained in good faith over the allocation of cuts.þþ''They took a firm position from the first day of negotiations and they never altered that position at all,'' he said.þþUnlike the tense and sometimes emotional hearing last week over United's termination of employee pensions, the weeklong labor trial has been largely absent of sharp exchanges and accusations -- suggesting both sides were always hopeful of a resolution through negotiations.þþ''I'm glad that the courtroom activity has been businesslike and there aren't ... sparks,'' United's chief operating officer, Pete McDonald, said in an interview earlier this week. ''The focus has been at the table to produce a tentative agreement that our employees, their members, can vote on and hopefully ratify.''þþAttorneys for the two sides indicated that the inability to reach an agreement during the two-day recess granted by the judge to focus on negotiations did not signify talks were blocked.þþNonetheless, the threat of a possible strike hung over the proceedings.þþIAM spokesman Joseph Tiberi reiterated that the union's 20,000 members, who include ramp and store workers and public-contact employees, would not back off their strike threat if the contract is broken.þþ''If we can't get a deal by the time the judge makes a ruling, we're prepared to shut down United Airlines,'' he said.þþPensions remained the major sticking point in the talks, although neither side would give details. Besides wages and benefits, the two sides were negotiating over a defined-contribution pension plan to replace the defined-benefits plan United is terminating as part of a companywide push to cut labor costs.þþUnited spokeswoman Jean Medina said the company would not speculate on the chances of a settlement before a trial verdict. ''We remain committed to trying to reach a consensual agreement outside of court,'' she said.þþ
Source: NY Times
