Machinists Union Sees Progress in United Talks
UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, the second-largest carrier, and its machinists union are making progress on a new contract for 12,800 mechanics and cleaners as a Wednesday strike deadline looms, the union said.
The union told members in a notice Saturday that talks have touched on all remaining issues since resuming Friday. Negotiators are meeting at an undisclosed site in Chicago.
“It seems to be going in the right direction,” said Tom Reardon, an assistant general chairman for the machinists. “Right now, it’s a game of brinkmanship, who’s going to blink first.”
The company has declined to comment on the status of talks.
An agreement would ward off a strike at United, which had a record $2.1-billion loss last year as travel demand fell because of the recession and the Sept. 11 attacks.
UAL Chairman and Chief Executive John Creighton has said the company will need several billion dollars of concessions from labor groups during the next few years to stem losses.
United told employees last week that it hired a bankruptcy attorney to provide guidance in the event of a strike, Reardon said, citing a taped United message and calling it a “negotiating ploy.”
A walkout may push the carrier into a Chapter 11 filing, some analysts have said. Ticket reservations already have dropped for next week because of the strike threat, the company has said.
The two sides have been in negotiations since December 1999 and initially had sought an agreement by July 2000, when the contract became open for changes. President Bush appointed an emergency board in December to postpone a strike for 60 days and review the dispute.
On Feb. 13 the workers rejected the tentative contract that the panel proposed. That agreement would have given the most senior mechanics at the Chicago-based carrier a 37% pay increase this year to $35.14 an hour, with an additional 3.9% next year and 2.8% in 2004.
Some workers opposed the proposal because of a provision that they agree to any wage concessions the company might reach with other employees in the next six months and another provision that delayed starting payment of retroactive wages until next year.
