United Airlines’ Unions Prepared for Concessions

United Airlines’ three unions are prepared to sign five-year contracts containing labor cost savings and no-strike clauses in their quest for employee ownership of parent UAL Corp., according to documents made public Tuesday.

Non-union employees, who would share in the proposed 75% workers’ stake, would give up wages and benefits worth about $55 million for each of five years, according to papers filed by the buyout group with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The proposed contracts included in the filings appeared to indicate that United’s three union groups, representing 65% of UAL’s work force, would take wage and benefit cuts of about 10%, but union officials would not confirm the amount of the reduction.

The labor agreements would depend on approval of the buyout by stockholders, the ability of the unions to secure financing and ratification of the contracts by each union’s membership.

United’s pilots, machinists and flight attendants unions announced Monday a bid that values UAL at more than $3.8 billion. The offer is composed of $150 per share in cash, $25 per share in debt securities and non-voting common stock in the new company with an undetermined value.

Analysts have calculated the offer’s value at $175 to $230 per share, or as much as $5.2 billion. Most experts put the offer at about $185 a share, or $4.03 billion.

Coniston Partners, an investment group and UAL’s largest stockholder, with 11.8%, is backing the unions with the threat of a proxy fight aimed at replacing UAL’s board with directors who would favor an employee buyout.

UAL’s stock fell $2.50 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, closing at $152 a share.

UAL Chairman Stephen M. Wolf has said that the board would consider the offer at an upcoming meeting expected to be held this week. UAL spokesman Joe Hopkins would not confirm a date.