American Airlines watching United's attempts to cut labor costs DALLAS (AP) =97 United Airlines' attempt to use bankruptcy to impose lower= =20 labor costs would increase pressure on American Airlines, which is already= =20 negotiating deep concessions from its major unions, an airline spokesman=20 said Tuesday. United asked a federal bankruptcy court judge Monday to scrap= =20 agreements it struck with labor unions unless new deals can be negotiated=20 by May 1, clearing the way to impose wage and benefit cuts of nearly $2.6=20 billion per year. The move by the nation's No. 2 carrier came one day after= =20 American opened negotiations with its flight attendants and ground workers= =20 on cuts in wages, benefits and working conditions. American, the world's=20 largest carrier, had already been bargaining with its pilots' union.=20 American is seeking $1.8 billion in annual concessions from employees,=20 saying it needs to cut costs sharply to avoid bankruptcy during the airline= =20 industry's current slump. "As United significantly reduces its labor costs,= =20 it absolutely puts additional pressure on American from a labor-cost=20 perspective," said Bruce Hicks, an American spokesman. "When you have our=20 chief competitor of the legacy carriers reducing its costs, it puts=20 continued pressure on us." John Darrah, president of the Allied Pilots=20 Association at American, said however that United's move did not represent= =20 much deeper cuts than American is already seeking through negotiations with= =20 its unions. United has more room to cut wages, Darrah said. United had agreed to=20 increase pay of its pilots before the industry's slump began in 2001 and=20 spends $300 million to $400 million more per year on pilots than American,= =20 he said. "We're right in the ballpark if we can do it (cut costs)=20 consensually," Darrah said. "But if we're going to give up $660 million" =97= =20 the pilots' share of the cuts, as proposed by American =97 "we expect some= =20 kind of return on investment," he said. American lost $3.5 billion last=20 year. Company officials have said they would be willing to negotiate a=20 means of sharing profits when the airline's financial performance improves,= =20 but Darrah said the topic has not yet been discussed at the bargaining=20 table. Darrah said the union may also seek a bigger role in running=20 American, but he said the union has not considered seeking seats on the=20 company board or taking an equity stake in the parent, Fort Worth-based=20 AMR. Pilots union leaders have also warned American not to pursue another=20 United strategy: creating a low-cost carrier as an airline within an=20 airline. Hicks, the American spokesman, said the airline was "watching what= =20 the others are doing =97 we take a look at everything =97 but we're not=20 interested" in creating a separate low-cost airline. "It didn't work for=20 anybody in the past. There's no evidence that it can succeed," he said. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx 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.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************