Strike Threat Still in the Air

The threat of a strike at United Airlines early next week still loomed Friday as the union for the airline’s 19,500 ground workers recessed contract talks for part of the Memorial Day weekend.

The International Assn. of Machinists -- which represents baggage handlers, reservation agents and airport counter workers -- hopes to reach agreement and avoid a walkout, but the union is “making preparations for a possible strike,” IAM spokesman Frank Larkin said.

Union negotiators “are prepared to return and conclude a deal with United, and plan to be back Monday at the latest,” he said.

United spokeswoman Jean Medina likewise said the carrier was “continuing to exchange proposals and have discussions.”

Passengers didn’t appear overly worried that a strike would occur, some travel firms said.

Online fare discounter Bestfares.com sold more tickets for United than for any other airline Thursday, with many people rushing to take advantage of discounts, Bestfares.com Chief Executive Tom Parsons said.

“The only thing people really care about is a cheap flight,” he said. “Nonstop if they can get it.”

United and the IAM are trying to reach an agreement before Tuesday, when a bankruptcy judge in Chicago is scheduled to rule on United’s request to cancel the workers’ contract.

If United can’t reach a deal with the union out of court, the airline wants the judge’s approval to impose additional wage and benefit cuts on the workers in order to emerge from 2 1/2 years in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

United has reached similar deals with the unions for its pilots, mechanics and flight attendants.

But the IAM says that if no contract is reached and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff sides with United, its members would strike immediately.

There is uncertainty about whether the employees can legally strike -- United claims they cannot -- and whether they would be ordered back to work by the courts or even by President Bush, if necessary.

United also is being guarded about any contingency plans it has for a strike. Asked to provide details, Medina would say only that “we are preparing legally and operationally to meet the needs of our customers.”

The unions for United’s pilots and flight attendants have not said whether they would support an IAM strike by refusing to cross picket lines -- a move that would all but ground United.

Despite the strike threat, “there does not appear to be a lot of concern at this point” among travelers, said Marie Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Rahul Agarwal, manager of Pasadena Perfect Travel, said that’s partly because of customers’ doubts that the workers would actually walk out. But he also noted that it was not easy for many travelers to change tickets before a strike began.

“About 80% of our customers have nonrefundable tickets,” he said. “If they are already holding the tickets, they can’t just get a refund. The airline has to give us permission to refund. So our clients are just going to have to wait.”

But any walkout, even a short one, could have a huge effect on travelers, United and its 60,000 employees, who include 15,200 workers in California.

United, the second-largest domestic airline behind AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, carries about 15% of the nation’s passenger traffic, or roughly 195,000 people a day. Any disruption would send thousands of people scrambling for flights on other carriers.

Rival airlines typically try to absorb a stricken airline’s passengers as best they can. But with air travel back to its pre-9/11 levels and this year’s summer travel season underway, there isn’t a lot of excess space.

“From a consumer perspective, there would be hardship,” said John Pincavage, president of consulting firm Pincavage & Associates in Westport, Conn. “If you pull out 15% of the industry’s capacity, you have a problem giving everybody a seat.”

The effect would be acute in United’s biggest markets, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, Washington and Tokyo. United, a unit of UAL Corp., is based in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Township and flies to about 200 cities in 26 countries.

A ground workers’ strike also could affect much more than existing flights. A walkout also would leave United’s major reservation call centers virtually unstaffed -- making it tough for consumers to book flights -- and would remove most customer service agents at airport ticket counters.

“I don’t know that United would necessarily make it through” a strike like that, Pincavage said.

A key sticking point in the IAM negotiations has been the unions’ effort to establish a pension plan to replace the underfunded plan that United is ending not only for IAM members but for all of its workers. United recently got approval from Wedoff to terminate the plans and shift their $6.6 billion in liabilities to the nation’s pension insurer, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

Airline contracts are covered by the Railway Labor Act, which has been applied to the airlines since 1936. It requires that both sides maintain the status quo while their disputes go through negotiation and then, if necessary, mediation with the help of the National Mediation Board.

If a truce still isn’t reached, there’s a 30-day “cooling-off” period after which a union can strike. But a walkout still can be avoided if the U.S. president convenes an emergency board aimed at keeping workers on the job until a settlement is reached. President Clinton did just that in 1997 to halt a strike by pilots at American Airlines.

But this case is unusual because United is in Chapter 11. The IAM maintains that if Wedoff annuls its contract, the stay-at-work provisions of the Railway Labor Act no longer apply and it’s free to strike immediately.

United disagrees. If the union calls a strike, the airline is expected to immediately ask Wedoff to order the employees back to work on the grounds that the IAM members are still covered by the act regardless of whether they have a contract in place.

In the meantime, United’s staunch customers continue to book flights, said Marsha Colling, manager of Travel Express in Claremont.

“They are holding their breath and hoping for the best,” she said.

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Times staff writers Ronald D. White and Roger Vincent contributed to this report.