With scores of its concerned employees and retirees looking on, United Airlines told a judge Tuesday it has no choice but to shed billions of dollars of pension obligations in order to emerge successfully from bankruptcy.
At a packed hearing with broad implications for airlines and their workers, United asked a U.S. federal bankruptcy judge to approve an agreement shifting responsibility for its defined-benefit plans to the U.S. government's pension agency. The funds are underfunded by an estimated $9.8 billion US.
Unless rejected by Judge Eugene Wedoff, it will be the largest corporate-pension default in U.S. history, topping Bethlehem Steel's $3.6 billion in underfunding in 2002. [thanks, Sharon]
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