American Airlines says flight attendant layoffs may be needed DALLAS (AP) =97 American Airlines will trim 1,100 flight attendants in= coming=20 months as it prepares to operate fewer flights next spring. The company=20 will offer voluntary options such as job sharing and leaves of absences to= =20 reduce the flight attendant numbers, American spokesman Todd Burke said=20 Tuesday. He said that the window for flight attendants to take the options= =20 will begin Dec. 11 and close Jan. 7. After that, American will have a=20 clearer idea of how many will be laid off. Any job cuts would take place=20 Feb. 1, Burke said. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company notified the=20 Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the union representing=20 American flight attendants, on Monday. Union spokesman George Price said=20 American's absence program will provide flight attendants with all of their= =20 regular employee benefits, but no paycheck. American has about 21,000 active attendants. Layoffs would begin with the=20 newest employees. "Those people that are at the bottom of the seniority=20 list are very concerned," Price said. "Those that have called are very=20 upset. They're very down." Last week, American said it would cut its North= =20 American capacity by 3.3% by next March compared to March 2002. American, the world's largest carrier, said the cutbacks would leave=20 capacity 18.6% below its March 2001 level before the terror attacks and the= =20 full effect of the weak economy befell the industry. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (Island Events) http://www.islandevents.com (Island Events) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************