American Airlines on Tuesday gave its flight attendants a second chance to approve concessions they already rejected, a last-ditch but controversial effort to avert a threatened bankruptcy filing.þþThe flight attendants were the only labor group of three at American that did not approve its cost-cutting package Tuesday. The pilots and transport workers unions each announced shortly after noon that they had ratified their agreements.þþBut the Association of Professional Flight Attendants rejected the concessions by 533 votes, with 51.4 percent opposed and 48.6 percent in favor of the agreement. That set the stage for an extraordinary meeting Tuesday afternoon and a voting extension today.þþThe board voted 13-5 during its three-hour teleconference to allow flight attendants to electronically vote or recast their ballots until 6 tonight. A small group of flight attendants quickly filed a federal lawsuit in New York to block the extended vote.þþAmerican had said repeatedly during the past two weeks that if all unions did not approve their concessions by Tuesday, the airline would have no choice but to immediately file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.þþInstead, the airline agreed with the APFA to allow the extension, saying it will have to file today if the agreement is not ratified.þþReports flooded in Tuesday night that managers were meeting flight attendants on their way in and out of airports, including Miami, handing them leaflets regarding bankruptcy and encouraging them to revote, said Rick Musica, Miami base vice chairman of the APFA.þþ''It's just a message to crews to communicate information,'' said Martha Pantin, a Miami-based spokeswoman for American. ``We're definitely not trying to influence the vote.''þþAmerican had sweetened its deal with the 26,000-member flight attendants union twice in the past few days, most recently Monday evening. Among the changes, the airline shortened the contract by four months, offered the potential of improved wages during the last three years of the nearly six-year contract, and agreed to reopen bargaining in 2007.þþNEEDED TIMEþþSaying flight attendants did not have time to consider those changes and see final contract language before voting, the APFA had asked for additional time Monday night. The airline turned down that request, saying the 11 a.m. Tuesday deadline could not be changed.þþ''From the onset our collective goal has been to give the membership as much information as possible, let them decipher that information and make an informed decision that they are comfortable with,'' Musica said.þþRandy Trautman, the only Miami-based voting member of the board, voted against the extension, a vote tally on the union's website showed.þþThe flight attendants' union was the lone labor group that allowed its members to vote only once, based on its constitution. Pilots and transport workers permitted their members to change their votes as many times as they wanted up to the deadline.þþAmerican said it had set April 15 for ratification because it had a substantial amount of loan repayments due. The company said it would go ahead and pay millions of dollars in scheduled debt payments due Tuesday.þþ''With almost 10,000 jobs hanging in the balance, and the future of 100,000 employees at stake, we agreed to take this risk and make this investment for our employees, because we believe that all employees will be better off if we can save jobs and restructure our costs consensually rather than through the bankruptcy process,'' Chairman Don Carty said. ``This is our last chance to avoid bankruptcy.''þþMore debt payments are due today, necessitating an immediate bankruptcy filing if flight attendants do not turn their vote around, he said.þþThe stock of American's parent, AMR Corp. fluctuated wildly, closing at $3.40, up 32 cents, or 10 percent. It went as high as $4.22.þþMany flight attendants are bitterly opposed to the concession package and the vote extension. They say the contract lasts too long, the wage and benefit sacrifices are too severe, and the disparity between managers' pay cuts and their own is unfair. The concessions, they have said, were reached too quickly.þþTuesday afternoon, six flight attendants filed suit against their union in New York, seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the vote, said Sherry Cooper, St. Louis base chair of the APFA, who lives in Jupiter.þþ'PREDETERMINED' VOTEþþ''I'm outraged, angry and I'm appalled that a union would try to go to the level of predetermining a vote,'' said Cooper, a 27-year flight attendant who had been president of two flight attendant unions at TWA. ``It's a slap in the face of one person, one vote. I've never seen anything like this in all the years I've been involved in unions.þþ'The only reason they are doing it, clearly, is to get enough votes to get a `yes' vote, which is not the union's place,'' she said.þþThe Allied Pilots Association, representing 13,500 American pilots, ratified its agreement, with 69 percent voting in favor and 31 percent opposed. Of 10,992 active pilots eligible to vote, 10,134, or 95 percent, cast their vote.þþ''Clearly, the gut-wrenching decision our pilots have had to make will have a major impact on their lives in terms of additional furloughs, pay cuts and retirement savings,'' said captain John Darrah, APA president. ``That said, I commend our pilots for taking this courageous step -- one that will hopefully allow American Airlines to avoid bankruptcy and help ensure its long-term viability.''þþThe Transport Workers Union, representing 35,000 fleet service clerks, mechanics and other work groups, approved its concession agreement with 53.3 percent voting in favor and 46.7 percent voting against the package.þþ''There is no question that these agreements represent a major step backwards for our union. We made these agreements only because it is painfully obvious that the results of bankruptcy proceedings would have been far worse,'' said James Little, director of the TWU's air transport division, in a message to members.þþTwo weeks ago, American reached tentative agreements with its three unions for a total of $1.62 billion in annual cost savings, including $660 million from pilots, $620 million from transport workers and $340 million from flight attendants.þþIn exchange, the employees would get profit sharing, stock options and the chance to improve their wages after three years if American becomes much more profitable than it expects and its debt rating improves eight notches.þþPilots will get pay cuts of 23 percent and up to 2,500 furloughs, including retirements, in the first year. The transport workers' wages will be cut 6 percent to 19 percent, depending on the work group.þþThe flight attendants' cost cuts would include 15.6 percent pay cuts, layoffs of up to 2,391 employees and a 33 percent reduction in vacation time.þþAmerican had told the unions that under bankruptcy, its debtor-in-possession lenders would require an additional $500 million in cost savings from employees.þ
Source: Miami Herald
