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Hi Ed:
After reading this and a couple of other items today, I am
wondering if the "powers" at UA are trying to force the union to
strike. It's wierd that they cannot come to some sort of an
agreement. I guess the issue is pensions and if the IAM is able to
get some kind of pension deal with UA then the company will be
forced to do come up with pension plans for the other unions
employees and non-union as well.
Again, maybe the powers at UA really hope the IAM goes on
strike. Interesting......
Subject: Pension Issues Snag United, Union Talks
Associated Press
Pension Issues Snag United, Union Talks
05.19.2005, 06:21 PM CT
Unable yet to negotiate an agreement on a new long-term contract,
United Airlines and its machinists union returned to a bankruptcy
courtroom Thursday to resume arguing whether the union's contract
should be broken in the absence of a deal.
The failure to wrap up a contract agreement left hanging the issue
of a
possible strike by United workers, who have threatened to walk off
their jobs if lower pay and benefits are imposed without a
consensual
deal.
Negotiators for both sides were racing to beat a new unofficial
deadline of late Friday morning, when closing arguments in the case
are
scheduled and a ruling to break the contract could soon follow.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
scheduled testimony from two witnesses at the court session late
Thursday to bolster its argument that United is asking for excessive
concessions from workers.
Tom Roth, the president of Alexandria, Va.-based Labor Bureau Inc.
and
a consultant for the IAM, said IAM workers are being asked to
shoulder
an unfair share of the cutbacks, in part because United is
undervaluing
the concessions made by the group in previous contract changes.
"We are looking at a group here that is the least paid, the lowest
average paid, has the lowest total compensation, and yet they're
asked
to take the largest cut," Roth said.
Attorneys for the two sides indicated that the inability to reach an
agreement during the two-day recess granted by the judge to focus on
negotiations did not signify the talks were blocked. The previous
night's bargaining session lasted until 3 a.m.
"It's just a lot of things trying to happen in a short period of
time,"
United attorney Alexander Dimitrief told reporters.
IAM spokesman Joseph Tiberi said pensions were "definitely the main
sticking point" in the talks. Besides wages and benefits, the two
sides
are negotiating over a defined-contribution pension plan to replace
the
defined-benefits plan United is terminating as part of a companywide
push to cut labor costs.
United, a unit of Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based UAL Corp., was
seeking
annual concessions totaling $176 million over five years from
machinists to complete a targeted $700 million in labor cost
reductions.
The IAM represents about 20,000 public-contact employees, baggage
handlers and other ground workers at United.
THE END RB
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