Airline borrowing money to make payroll, CEO says DALLAS (AP) =97 American Airlines, which is borrowing money to make payroll,= =20 needs to cut additional costs and is turning to labor unions, the carrier's= =20 chief executive says. With American losing several million dollars a day,=20 CEO Donald Carty says managers need faster cooperation from unions=20 representing airline employees to get out of the cash crunch. The world's=20 largest carrier, which says it has already cut $2 billion a year in=20 structural costs, wants to extract another $2 billion in labor-related=20 savings to reach its $4 billion annual goal. Fort Worth-based American last= =20 August announced 7,000 layoffs and the mothballing of jets. In December,=20 the airline announced it limit flight attendant layoffs to 400 by allowing= =20 almost 500 workers to take unpaid leave and letting others share jobs in an= =20 agreement reached with a union. The airline's Securities and Exchange=20 Commission filings show it has $2.8 billion in cash and liquid assets.=20 Analysts say parent AMR is in no immediate danger of bankruptcy. Carty has= =20 said American doesn't plan to go down the road of United, the world's=20 second-biggest airline, which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy= protection. Instead, American wants to make work rules more favorable for managers and= =20 rewrite language in labor contracts. Consultants say pilot cooperation=20 remains essential for any restructuring to succeed. "Never ask for a small= =20 giveback," industry consultant and academic Darryl Jenkins of the Aviation= =20 Institute at George Washington University told The Dallas Morning News in=20 Tuesday's editions. "It's so difficult that if you're going to do it, you=20 might as well ask for a lot." The Allied Pilots Association, the most=20 powerful of the three major labor groups, has been in on-and-off contract=20 talks with American since last year. But two members of the union's=20 negotiating committee unexpectedly resigned last week. The APA board of=20 directors meets Tuesday to elect replacements to the negotiating committee. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.atlanticlng.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************