United Cuts May Trigger a Strike

United Airlines proposed to eliminate 1,000 flight attendant jobs as part of a bankruptcy exit plan that seeks $137.6 million in annual concessions from that group, the workers’ union said Monday.

United’s Assn. of Flight Attendants told members in a website message that it would ask them to authorize a strike in response to the demands, including pay and benefit cuts. The 1,000 jobs amount to 6.5% of the Chicago-based airline’s workforce of 15,400 attendants.

United spokeswoman Jean Medina declined to comment.

United parent UAL Corp., the world’s second-largest airline, said it needed $725 million in a second round of concessions from workers to help stem losses and attract financing to exit bankruptcy. The attendants had provided $314 million in concessions last year after the company sought Chapter 11 protection in December 2002.