CHICAGO - Charging that United Airlines management is refusing to meet the same rigorous standards that employees are being held to, the Association of Flight Attendants, as provided for in its Collective Bargaining Agreement, notified the company on Friday that it has 20 days to fix the problem or the union will invoke its right to terminate the agreement the company claimed it needed to emerge from bankruptcy proceedings.

"It appears that a significant portion of the concessions that salaried and management employees supposedly were making are illusory," said Greg Davidowitch, president of the AFA United Master Executive Council. "Unfortunately, the actions of this management team raise more serious questions about whether they can be trusted to deal fairly with the employees and other stakeholders."

As part of its agreement with the company, AFA retained the right to audit the company's numbers to ensure that the sacrifices were equitable. At the AFA's insistence, the company conceded that the methodology for valuing the wage concession of the salaried and management was inappropriate yet it still has not produced the data necessary to support the legitimacy of many of its productivity claims. "They'd be screaming 'smoke & mirrors' if we put numbers like their's on the table," Davidowitch said. "They should realize that this is a very serious matter for every Flight Attendant out there who's having to make incredible personal sacrifices to continue her or his career in serving the traveling public."

United management said it needed $725 million total from all employee groups, allocated in what it claimed would be an equitable manner. "Our members agreed to huge sacrifices to help our company survive," Davidowitch said. "Now, by refusing to substantiate the concessions by the salaried and management employees, the entire restructuring plan is called into question. We have grave doubts about whether this management can do what it takes to successfully emerge from bankruptcy."

If the current 2005 AFA contract is terminated, the previous contract would be in force. "It's hard to predict what the impact will be of management's failure to meet its contractual obligations," Davidowitch said. "We've never had to go to lengths like these before in the history of AFA with any airline carrier."

"However, we must, and we will, continue to consider all other legal options that may be available to us," Davidowitch said. "We are deeply concerned that this management has never intended to live up to its obligations."

More than 46,000 Flight Attendants, including the 21,000 Flight Attendants at United, join together to form AFA, the world's largest Flight Attendant union. AFA is part of the 700,000 member strong Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO. Visit us at http://www.unitedafa.org/.