Union leaders for United Airlines’ flight attendants are preparing members for a strike should the airline’s management use the bankruptcy court to force contract changes.

The Association of Flight Attendants’ master executive council unanimously adopted a resolution asking members to authorize a strike. The move is in response to United’s request for $137.6 million in additional cost cuts as well as the elimination of the flight attendants’ pension program.

The council will “take all actions necessary to prevent United management from destroying our careers and extracting from the Flight Attendants a single dime more than the law permits,” according to the resolution.

The council is meeting this week in Pittsburgh.

United has told its six labor unions that it needs $725 million in annual savings and the replacement of the pension program with a less expensive defined contribution plan to bring the airline’s costs in line with expenses.

United will be in bankruptcy court this week to update a judge on the status of its reorganization efforts and set a timeframe for negotiating with labor groups. If United and its unions are unable to reach an agreement on the cuts, the airline could ask the judge to force unions to accept the deals.

The airline has proposed a variety of contract changes for each union, including pay cuts.

United pilots have been asked to cut the most – $191.2 million annually. The pilots’ union is meeting this week to review United’s demands.

Flight attendants have been asked to accept a 10.2 percent pay cut and change other work rules, including receiving only 70 percent of regular pay on sick days and easing restrictions on how many hours flight attendants work.

United wants to eliminate about 1,000 flight attendant jobs and force changes in the contract that will “produce insignificant cost savings,” according to the union’s executive council.

United executives have said $111.8 million in savings will come from management and other salaried employees.

A United spokeswoman said Monday that the airline is committed to working with all its labor unions to make further spending cuts. The proposals made to each union were suggestions on how to meet the spending reductions outlined for each, she said.

It is the second time since United sought bankruptcy protection in December 2002 that the airline has asked for substantial givebacks from its workers. Last year, unions agreed to multiyear contracts that cut their pay and benefits by about $2.5 billion annually.

Other airlines have also been trying to reduce labor costs in an effort to control expenses. Last week, Delta pilots agreed to $1 billion in wage and benefit concessions.

US Airways, in bankruptcy, has also threatened to use the courts to force cost savings on employees. US Airways also wants to cut pay and eliminate its pension plan.

Also Monday, United Chief Executive Glenn Tilton told employees the airline has made progress in its efforts to restructure the airline.

In the recorded message, Graham Atkinson, senior vice president of worldwide sales and alliances, said the airline has been successful in making deals with several corporate clients.

“Now, these are confidential agreements so I can’t tell you the names of the companies involved right now,” Atkinson said. “But, I can tell you that the value of these three contracts is worth more than $130 million to United over five years.”