United Flight Attendants' pensions are under attack. United management has brokered a last minute deal with the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. In return for a payment of approximately $1.5 billion, the PBGC has agreed to withdraw its objections in the bankruptcy proceedings and to allow United to terminate our pension plans. This is all the more indefensible when the agency had taken the position up to the moment of the sellout deal that the United Airlines Flight Attendant plan "can and should be maintained by the company upon emergence from Chapter 11."

United intends to achieve Bankruptcy court approval of the sellout plan on May 10, 2005. This is nothing less than an end run around our right to defend our pension plan in court based on the merits of the plan. Circumventing that right, and denying us due process before the court, could set a precedent for the entire airline industry to follow - placing in motion the total collapse of our country's defined benefit pension system and the destruction of a worker's right to a dignified retirement. We must fight this action as Flight Attendants and as American taxpayers.

URGENT ACTION IS NEEDED IN THE FIGHT FOR OUR PENSIONS. All AFA Members, friends and family members, and everyone who believes that a dignified retirement earned for a lifetime of service is worth fighting for - the time for action is now.

AFA has asked the Board of Directors of the PBGC to conduct a thorough review of the settlement with United. We need support from our friends in Congress to ensure that the PBGC is held accountable and our right to preserve our viable pension plan is upheld. Take a few moments to send the attached letter to your Senators and Member of Congress. Tell Congress to support pension benefits and press for a review of the PBGC’s actions before it’s too late.