United - Contract Time

Union pilots at United Airlines will dial back confrontational labor tactics in hopes of reclaiming some of the pay given up five years ago to help save the company.

The pilot union had taken a hard line in recent years. But on Thursday, the union's new chief said she'll be taking a different approach.

"Since engagement is not appeasement, we intend to engage them at every level," Wendy Morse said.

"If we get to a point that we have to be confrontational ... we're certainly capable of doing that, and we will," she said. "But that is not our first choice. Our first choice is engagement to move forward."

Morse, a Boeing 777 captain based in Chicago, was elected in October and became chairman of the union's Master Executive Council on Jan. 1.

Under the last pilot chairman, Steve Wallach, the union ran a Web site dedicated to criticizing CEO Glenn Tilton. Things got so bad that in 2008 the airline sued the union and a few pilots, alleging a coordinated work slowdown. A judge ordered the union to knock it off.

Now, the anti-CEO Web site is gone. So is the so-called "hat switch," which directed pilots to remove their hats when the were near managers to protest. Morse says she is planning to meet face-to-face with Tilton.

Morse was clear, however, that the union would not buckle.

"The last thing we want to do is stand out of the way and let the company do things that are contrary to our interests," she said.

Morse was on the negotiating committee in 2000 when the union won what it considered a favorable contract.

"All I know of Wendy is she's a hard-nosed unionist," said Herb Hunter, a 747 captain who has been with United for 31 years and has acted as a spokesman for the union.

Morse expects raises and believes the company does, too.

"I'm sure that they do not expect to get out of this contract negotiation without significant pay raises," she said.

United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy agreed. Referring both to pilots and other workers, she said, "United wants to find opportunities for our employees to make more money," but the company wants better productivity in return, she said.

Other unions want lost pay and benefits, too. On Thursday, flight attendants picketed at 17 airports around the world to protest the lack of a new, better deal. The Air Line Pilots Association encouraged its members to join them.

The Association of Flight Attendants said the airline has failed act quickly enough on a new contract. Their contract opened for changes on Thursday, but talks began in April.

Flight attendants have also been frustrated that United has not met with them outside of the sessions run by a federal mediator, as it has done with other unions.

McCarthy said there haven't been extra meetings because the union has not been willing to negotiate on some key points.

"We've repeatedly presented proposals to the AFA that were dismissed outright without even a counterproposal or any type of negotiation," she said.

Shares of United's parent, Chicago-based UAL Corp., rose 28 cents, or 2.1 percent, to close at $13.55 in afternoon trading.