CHICAGO (AFP) - Bankrupt United Airlines said it will have to renegotiate its labour contracts to achieve additional savings over and above those that will come from dumping its employee pension plans.
The carrier's lead lawyer told the bankruptcy judge overseeing the airline's reorganisation that United had concluded it needed to accelerate and deepen its cost-cutting.
"Given the urgency of United's situation and the stark financial reality in the entire industry, United believes that it likely will have no choice but to seek further non-pension labor related savings," James Sprayregen, the carriers' lead attorney said in a hearing Friday.
Sprayregen did not spell out the scope of the givebacks that the airline would be seeking from its employees, but said it needed to have them in place by January.
He said the airline wanted to open contract talks in November, with the hopes of hammering out a mutually agreeable deal.
But the unions have already signed up to 2.5 billion dollars in annual cuts over six years, and they cried foul when management announced in August that they planned to terminate contributions to employee pension funds.
Those four plans, according to independent sources, are underfunded by 8.3 billion dollars.
Separately, Judge Eugene Wedoff signed off on another 30-day exclusivity period,providing United management with another month in which to file a reorganisation plan without a challenge from any other parties.