Also, companies could try to renegotiate their labour contracts with the steel union.
If it does not get a deal, it plans to petition the court overseeing its bankruptcy to allow it to void labour contracts.
Labour contracts are fixed until 2015, while new cars, such as the Chevrolet Equinox crossover, are keeping downsized factories humming at near capacity.
Once bust, American firms can in any case ask the bankruptcy-court judge to void existing labour contracts, a step that United is already threatening to take.
The firm blames its bankruptcy on onerous labour contracts, under which it says pilots earn 49% more than their counterparts at big American airlines although America is a rich country and Mexico is not.
Gary Lewis, a distressed-assets expert who runs a financial website called scrantonisbroke.blogspot.com, wants the city to consider filing for bankruptcy, which would allow it to restructure its crippling debt and change its expensive labour contracts.
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True, the schools are still a mess, but Mr Bloomberg has achieved what his predecessor could not, operational control, and a deliberate effort has begun to end decades of terrible labour contracts and absurd policies, such as the automatic promotion of unqualified students to higher grades at the end of every year.
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The privatisation of labour exchanges and changes to apprenticeship contracts will inject even more flexibility into the Italian labour market, promises Maurizio Sacconi, the minister responsible.
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One North East Labour MP believes quality contracts could tackle that.
In brief, we need to move to a system that (1) makes room for more flexible contracts in the labour market, (2) has a minimal welfare net for workers who are out of work, and (3) resolves labour market disputes more quickly.
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There has been speculation the UK may reinstate the practice of "tied aid" on contracts - banned by Labour in 2001.
To protect his back, Mr Gore recently promised that bills damaging to the trade unions would receive a presidential veto, and that companies with poor labour records would be denied federal contracts.
The information came to light during an audit of some contracts started before the new Labour administration took control in last May's election.
Number 10 said the government backed a living wage and "would encourage business to take it up" but warned Labour's plans to restrict government contracts in this way could breach EU procurement law.
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This threw up big differences: in Spain (which suffers from high unemployment and a two-tier labour market that protects insiders on permanent contracts), 80% said it was harder to land a job as a Moroccan, a sentiment shared by only 53% of German respondents.
Labour MPs and trade unions say zero hours contracts strip workers of their rights and are exploitative.
Labour should pledge to ban "zero hours contracts" at the next election, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham has said.
Under the Labour government they were invited to bid for contracts to carry out non-emergency operations, such as hip and knee replacements.
Deregulation to permit more part-time work and short-term contracts, and tax changes to reduce labour costs, have all made output more job-intensive.
On October 19th he appalled some colleagues by praising permanent employment contracts and saying he did not prize labour mobility or flexibility.
But he said the Labour leader should "go further" and vow to ban so-called zero hours contracts as well.
If One Nation Labour doesn't want people to be left behind and so compels companies which receive government contracts to provide better training and higher wages, is there a danger that businesses will find it too expensive to recruit and the gap between the "two nations" of unemployed and employed grows?
But since the Labour Party conference the government has imposed more restrictions on how private firms can treat staff working on contracts with the public sector.
France's notoriously burdensome labour regulations deter hiring full-time workers and ensure a strong demand for staff on short-term contracts.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has said if the party wins the next election it will introduce rules forcing government contracts to only be given to those firms who pay the living wage.
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