United Pilots Plan To Picket Activists PAR And Altimeter

The United Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Association (MEC), which represents more than 12,000 pilots at United Continental Holdings Inc

, plans a picketing on April 6 at the headquarters of PAR Capital and Altimeter in Boston, to protest against their proxy battle to gain control of United Continental board, according to a report on AirwaysNews. http://airwaysnews.com/blog/2016/03/30/united-pilots-to-picket-hedge-funds-headquarters/ The report, citing a letter from the MEC to its members, said the union accuses the firms to "have made disturbing statements in an attempt to force many changes within United's Board of Directors." "Thankfully, and due wholly to our past sacrifices, our situation has dramatically improved. Now is not the time for hedge fund minority shareholders to reward themselves at our expense. Now is the time for all stakeholders to benefit from continued reinvestment in our airline's corporate infrastructure, customer experience, new aircraft, maintenance, training, IT, and improved contracts." the union said in the letter. Altimeter Capital and PAR Capital, which together own about 7.1 percent of United's outstanding common stock, wanted the airline to add six new directors including Gordon Bethune, former CEO of Continental, which merged with United in 2010. Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/news/16/03/7751570/its-united-vs-activists#ixzz44OkXjmB0 Shares of United were up 2.5 percent at $60.16.