American asks for $1.8B in pay cuts By Dan Reed, USA TODAY FORT WORTH =97 American Airlines asked workers Tuesday for $1.8 billion in= =20 permanent annual labor cost savings that management says are needed to=20 avoid following United Airlines and US Airways into Chapter 11 bankruptcy=20 reorganization. The formal request for concessions ends months of=20 not-so-subtle efforts by the world's largest airline to educate workers=20 about the company's rapidly declining financial health. Parent AMR lost=20 $3.5 billion last year and $1.8 billion in 2001. It ended 2002 with just=20 under $2 billion in unrestricted cash and continues to suffer daily cash=20 losses of about $5 million. Union response was muted. Gregg Overman,=20 spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, says leaders there are=20 reserving comment until after they meet with management Friday. "They're supposed to give us some additional details then about what this=20 company would look like going forward if they were to get the $1.8 billion= =20 (in concessions) management's asking us to give," he said. John Ward,=20 president of the 20,000-member Association of Professional Flight=20 Attendants, said he too wants to see management's answers to those=20 questions Friday. "Unfortunately," Ward added in a statement on the union's= =20 Web site, management "put the cart before the horse" by requesting "huge=20 concessions before providing these details to the union." Leaders of the=20 Transport Workers Union, which represents 33,000 mechanics, ramp workers=20 and other ground-service employees, could not be reached for comment.=20 Here's how American's $1.8 billion target breaks down: Pilots, $660 million; flight attendants, $340 million; TWU-represented=20 workers, $620 million. Non-union agents, $80 million. Management and=20 support staff, $100 million. In letters to union leaders and non-union=20 workers, CEO Don Carty and President Gerard Arpey said asking workers for=20 concessions is a "last resort." The company has made operational cuts worth= =20 $2 billion annually by 2005. Carty and Arpey said American has "an=20 opportunity no longer available to our counterparts at United and US=20 Airways the chance to work together to find mutually acceptable solutions=20 to our financial crisis in order to avoid the uncertainty of courts and=20 creditors determining our fate." Arpey said in an interview that management= =20 has not set a deadline for winning labor concessions, but, "We're using=20 words like 'now' and "immediate' for a reason." AMR shares closed at $2.87,= =20 down 8 cents Tuesday. *************************************************** 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.caribscape.com/tamnakthai/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************