Workers have already taken pay cuts--and the vote has not even happened yet?
Associated Press
American Airlines Workers Take Pay Cuts
Saturday March 29, 7:45 pm ET
By David Koenig, AP Business Writer
DALLAS (AP) -- American Airlines reached tentative agreements with several small labor groups to reduce wages Saturday as a key union leader warned workers that the cuts will be deeper if the world's largest airline fails to avoid bankruptcy.
American reached tentative agreements with more than 2,100 stock clerks, dispatchers, maintenance specialists and meteorologists, the Transport Workers Union said. About 16,000 baggage handlers reached an agreement Thursday, and talks were continuing with representatives of about 39,000 pilots, flight attendants and mechanics.
We are pleased with these additional tentative agreements and the TWU's intent and seriousness, airline spokesman Bruce Hicks said. He declined to discuss the ongoing negotiations other than to say that progress is being made.
American, which has about 99,000 employees, says it must cut its labor costs by $1.8 billion per year to avoid bankruptcy. If it fails to do so, bankruptcy lenders would demand an additional $500 million in labor concessions, said James Little, director of the TWU's airline division, which represents about one-third of American's employees. This Sounds Like a Company Man Peddling Fear
Parent company AMR Corp., based in Fort Worth, has lost nearly $5.3 billion in the past two years, and the war in Iraq is putting additional pressure on the airline by leading to sharp declines in international travel, which accounts for more than one-fourth of American's business.
Associated Press
American Airlines Workers Take Pay Cuts
Saturday March 29, 7:45 pm ET
By David Koenig, AP Business Writer
DALLAS (AP) -- American Airlines reached tentative agreements with several small labor groups to reduce wages Saturday as a key union leader warned workers that the cuts will be deeper if the world's largest airline fails to avoid bankruptcy.
American reached tentative agreements with more than 2,100 stock clerks, dispatchers, maintenance specialists and meteorologists, the Transport Workers Union said. About 16,000 baggage handlers reached an agreement Thursday, and talks were continuing with representatives of about 39,000 pilots, flight attendants and mechanics.
We are pleased with these additional tentative agreements and the TWU's intent and seriousness, airline spokesman Bruce Hicks said. He declined to discuss the ongoing negotiations other than to say that progress is being made.
American, which has about 99,000 employees, says it must cut its labor costs by $1.8 billion per year to avoid bankruptcy. If it fails to do so, bankruptcy lenders would demand an additional $500 million in labor concessions, said James Little, director of the TWU's airline division, which represents about one-third of American's employees. This Sounds Like a Company Man Peddling Fear
Parent company AMR Corp., based in Fort Worth, has lost nearly $5.3 billion in the past two years, and the war in Iraq is putting additional pressure on the airline by leading to sharp declines in international travel, which accounts for more than one-fourth of American's business.
