22% of United Workers Will Wait to Join Buyout Effort

UAL Corp. employees represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants will not join a $4.9-billion employee buyout effort before a shareholder vote this summer, the union said.

Gerald Greenwald, who will become chairman and chief executive of UAL if shareholders approve the sale, told the AFA last week that there is not enough time to conclude an agreement with the union before the referendum, according to the union.

A spokesman for the union, which represents 18,000 United Airlines employees, or 22% of the airline’s 83,000 workers, could not be reached for comment. A company spokesman was also unavailable.

The International Assn. of Machinists, the Air Line Pilots Assn. and a non-union employee group have signed a definitive agreement to buy 55% of the company in exchange for a $4.9-billion package of wage and work-rule concessions over almost six years.

The AFA and United have been deadlocked over the airline’s use of foreign bases for flight attendants, which the union says reduces demand for its members’ jobs.

Whether or not the AFA joins the buyout will be another uncertainty for shareholders when they cast ballots for or against the sale, which would create the nation’s largest employee-owned company.

UAL Corp. has lowered its estimate of what shareholders will get from an employee buyout a second time, citing changes made to pacify pilots. The UAL board now values the deal at $143 to $147 a share for existing stockholders, down from as much as $170 a share in late December.

Since a definitive agreement was reached March 25, UAL’s share price has fallen 9.6%. It closed 75 cents higher at $119.875 on Tuesday.

Also unclear is who the company will pick as president to run the airline, as Greenwald has no airline operating experience. Few expect the position to be filled before the shareholder vote.