Congressmen petition United to reconsider pension actions.
More than 100 Congressmen have signed a letter urging United to reconsider "jeopardizing the retirement security of 118.000 employees and retirees." The letter, directed to CEO Glenn Tilton, is being circulated in Washington and it could be delivered later this week. The letter points out the concerns about the impact termination of the pension plans will have on the workers and retirees. The letter states "While we understand that the airline faces difficult challenges in emerging from bankruptcy, the employees and retirees have already agreed to job reductions and significant concessions in their wages and benefits. We strongly believe that it is unfair to insist that their retirement security be sacrificed as well." You may remember that Congress offered reforms last April that would allow the airlines more time to make cash contributions to their plan and the letter refers to this by saying "Members of both political parties supported this relief because we believed, based on representation by you and other airline executives, that this action was necessary to preserve the pension funds."