United pilots elect new leaders

Pilots at United Airlines have elected new union leaders who promise to take a tougher approach with management.

Steve Wallach, a San Francisco-based Boeing 747 captain, was elected Tuesday to a two-year term as chairman of the master executive council of the Air Line Pilots Association at United, succeeding Mark Bathurst. The post gives him a seat on the board at United parent UAL Corp., based in Chicago.

Jeff Barath, a pilot who also holds an MBA, was chosen as vice chairman of the council. Barath was a member of the team led by former chairman Rick Dubinsky that succeeded in winning steep contract concessions from management in 2000.

Pilots at United and other U.S. carriers are demanding better wages after giving up significant amounts in the industry pullback that followed the terrorist attacks of 2001. Pilots at American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp., also installed an activist union leadership over the summer.

Many United pilots are demanding the carrier, which has returned to profitability after a three-year bankruptcy restructuring that ended last year, rework the existing five-year contract not due to expire until 2010. United has said it won't make such a move.

United unions remain angry about what they see as excessive pay for the company's top managers after they were forced to make huge concessions in bankruptcy.