United mechanics resume talks, hope to avert strike
By Dave Carpenter
Associated Press
CHICAGO — United Airlines and the union representing its 13,000 mechanics and aircraft cleaners began urgent contract talks yesterday amid signs that both sides were hopeful of reaching a settlement and averting a strike.
Negotiations aimed at ending the 2-year-old dispute convened at a hotel in suburban Rosemont, near O'Hare International Airport. They were expected to last into or through the weekend and go around the clock, if necessary, to reach agreement before the machinists' strike deadline Tuesday (7 p.m. Hawai'i time).
United has informed its employees that flights will be grounded if mechanics walk off the job — an action they authorized by an 86 percent majority on Tuesday. But with the majority employee-owned airline already in dire financial straits after Sept. 11 and facing prospects of bankruptcy if a strike occurs, a walkout would hurt both sides.
Both United and the union signaled this week that they oppose government intervention, telling the White House they can solve remaining issues under the pressure of an impending strike deadline.
"The clock is ticking," said spokesman Frank Larkin of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. "That creates an atmosphere with the potential for settlement."
Like the mechanics, United said its negotiating team was prepared to negotiate through the weekend.
"We're determined to reach a new agreement, to avoid any disruption of service," said Joe Hopkins, a spokesman for United, whose headquarters in Elk Grove Village is located near the site of talks.
New talks were quickly scheduled after union members rejected a contract Tuesday that would have given senior mechanics an immediate 37 percent pay raise to $35.14 an hour and made them the highest paid in the industry as of May 2004.
The mechanics, who haven't received a raise in eight years, were unhappy about the offer's proposal to delay retroactive pay until 2003 as well as a provision that would have given United the right to cut their wages over the next six months if other unions agree to concessions. United, which recently was losing $10 million a day and says it needs substantial wage givebacks as part of its financial recovery plan, declined to say whether that provision was dropped when talks resumed yesterday.
President Bush blocked a strike at United in December by appointing an emergency board that recommended the offer that mechanics rejected on Tuesday. He could still order Congress to impose a settlement, but a congressional recess until Feb. 25 means that apparently could occur only after the strike deadline.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Wednesday it was unlikely Bush would become involved, at least for the time being.
Shares in United's parent company UAL Corp. lost 11 percent of their value in the two days after the contract was voted down, reflecting investors' concerns about a strike and costly settlement. The stock gained back 28 cents, or 2.5 percent, to close at $11.36 yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange.
