US Airways Wants Labor Deals Rejected

Reuters
Tuesday, August 27, 2002; 4:45 AM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - US Airways Group Inc. has asked the court handling its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case for permission to reject collective-bargaining agreements that cover more than 18,500 of its employees, the Wall Street Journal reported in its Tuesday online edition.

The agreements are with mechanics, fleet-service employees and maintenance-training supervisors represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, (IAM), and with reservation agents and ticket-counter workers represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), according to court papers cited by the Journal story.

Unlike other employee groups, these groups have not ratified cost-reduction agreements the airline operator says are vital to its ability to successfully reorganize, the Journal reported.

Unless such cost-reduction agreements are reached, the airline will seek permission to end the agreements, according to the Journal story. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 10 before Judge Stephen S. Mitchell of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria, Virginia, the Journal reported.