American Opposes Arbitration In Labor Negotiations
FORT WORTH (AP) – American Airlines opposes a request by labor unions to settle long-running contract talks through arbitration.
The airline filed for bankruptcy protection in November and seeks to cut labor costs by $1.25 billion a year. It said Friday that under federal law the bankruptcy court, and not federal mediators, should oversee negotiations between the company and unions.
If it can't reach deals with the unions, American could ask the bankruptcy judge to impose the company's labor terms on employees.
The flight attendants' union said it was disappointed that American declined arbitration and said the result could be more litigation. The pilots' union has already sued American to block it from using bankruptcy to nullify its contract and impose pay cuts.
James C. Little, president of the Transport Workers Union, which represents American's ground workers, said it "would have been a wise approach" to bring in trained federal mediators who know airline labor issues.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
