More employees received word yesterday that US Airways intends to cut off company-paid retiree medical and dental coverage starting Jan. 1. The airline posted the news on an employee Web site and mailed letters to retirees. In the letter, the airline argues that without the cuts, it could mean "the end of the company" and cessation of benefits for all current and former employees. The company is asking 10,800 ex-employees to agree to the cuts consensually; if that does not happen, US Airways will ask a bankruptcy judge to impose the changes.

US Airways Chief Executive Officer Bruce Lakefield warned in a message to employees yesterday that there will be fewer jobs at the airline if it can negotiate new cost-saving agreements with three holdout unions. "I don't like that one bit," he said. But the loss of jobs is not enough of a reason to block agreements from being reached, he said. It is in the interest of flight attendants, passenger service workers and machinists to negotiate consensually instead of "leaving the outcome to a third party. I fervently hope we do not reach that point."