The pilots' union is the first to reach a tentative deal with United in the latest round of concession talks.

Both sides repeated their arguments today, with Mr. Weicker saying concession talks must produce "real savings" and labor leaders saying that the state wants blood for blood's sake.

A union official involved in concession talks has put the amount in the range of $700 million to $800 million.

Some were suggesting privately that they were prepared to devise their own broad austerity plan and one, Barry Feinstein of Teamsters Local 237, was threatening to bolt the concession talks and focus only on his contract, which expired yesterday.

Rich Nelson, a spokesman for United Airlines, declined to comment on the concession talks.

But it was perhaps necessary to conclude the concession talks, which have dragged on - very amicably, by industry standards - for more than a year, and establish that each side was now serious.

Yet, despite the odds facing the Celtics in this four-of-seven-game series, there were no concession talks.

At United, a spokesman for the pilots' union said that retaining board representation is one of the issues in the current round of concession talks.

Leaders of the machinists at United acknowledge that the A.M.F.A. still poses a threat, but they say that has had little influence on the current concession talks.

The announcement came as analysts tried to gauge how the need to have concession talks with each union would affect United's chances of avoiding bankruptcy.