United Agrees on Concessions
Faced with the prospect of management asking a judge to void their labor contracts as part of bankruptcy proceedings (see WIT for March 18, 2003), five of the six units of International Association of Machinists workers at United have reached tentative concessions agreements. The proposed thirteen percent pay cut, twenty percent health insurance co-pay, and work rule changes, would cover 23,000 ticket agents, security guards, ramp, storage, food service, and frequent-flier division workers, and save United $445 annually for six years. Having already won tentative agreements from members of the flight attendants', pilots', and dispatchers' unions despite their earlier objections to management's proposals (see WIT's for Feb. 25, and Jan. 31, 2003), United now faces resistance only from the IAM unit representing 13,000 mechanics.
See "United Agrees on Concessions", EDWARD WONG, The New York Times, April 8, 2003