Leaders of pilots union recommends agreement

Friday, Dec. 17, 2004 | 9:06 a.m.

CHICAGO -- Leaders of United Airlines' pilots union endorsed a tentative contract agreement Thursday and sent it to the membership for a ratification vote, saying there was a risk the bankruptcy court would have imposed an unacceptable alternative.

The decision by the Air Line Pilots Association's United branch moves the carrier a step closer to a consensus pact with a key union on new labor contracts that would sharply reduce wages and benefits again for its workforce.

Details were not disclosed by the union's leadership or the company.

, which has said any revised contract with pilots must provide $191 million in annual savings. The company last month gave the union a series of options on how to achieve that target -- from a straight 18 percent pay cut to smaller cuts and changes in work rules.

"We were faced with a tough choice: negotiate with the company to reach a consensual agreement that would inevitably involve further concessions, or proceed in the bankruptcy court where we faced a dangerous risk of an imposed, and totally unacceptable, outcome," Mark Bathhurst, chairman of the pilots union's master executive council, said in a statement.

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