Workers at American 'not happy' with deal By Dan Reed, USA TODAY FORT WORTH =97 Leaders of American Airlines' three unions say they expect=20 some organized opposition to the $1.6 billion package of concessions that=20 employees will soon vote on. Shares of AMR, American's parent, have more=20 than doubled this week on investors' belief that tentative agreements with= =20 labor unions will help it avoid bankruptcy reorganization. AMR closed at=20 $4.25 a share Wednesday, up 42%. But ratification is not assured. "I'm sure= =20 we'll see some" organized opposition, says Gary Peterson, president of=20 Local 567 of the Transport Workers Union, representing about 2,000=20 mechanics and technicians in Fort Worth. The choice before American's more= =20 than 70,000 union workers =97 big cuts in pay and benefits and some layoffs= =20 now or risking bigger cutbacks later if American files for Chapter 11 =97 is= =20 not the "no brainer" outsiders might assume."This is not an agreement that= =20 anyone is happy with," Peterson says. "With this agreement, our mechanics=20 will be making less" than Southwest's. The decision comes down to "will we= =20 be better off taking this deal? And there's no question in my mind that we= =20 would do much worse in bankruptcy," he says. There's precedent for airline workers rejecting concessions under threat of= =20 a bankruptcy filing. Mechanics and other ground workers at United Airlines,= =20 represented by the machinists union, did that in November. Bruce Hicks, a=20 spokesman for American, says management knows getting all three deals won't= =20 be a slam-dunk. But American's workers have learned what could happen to=20 them in a Chapter 11 case now that they've seen the cutbacks endured by=20 United and US Airways workers in those bankruptcy reorganizations, he says.= =20 American's deal with the Allied Pilots Association cuts pilot pay 23% in=20 the first year and 17% in later years vs. today. About 2,500 pilots are=20 expected to lose their jobs. Some captains with little seniority could see= =20 pay cuts of 35% because they could be demoted to first officer to replace=20 those laid off. The 35,000 mechanics, bag handlers and other TWU workers=20 would take pay cuts of 15% to 19%. They would also lose vacation days,=20 shift pay and other benefits. More than 2,000 are expected to be laid off.= =20 Pay cuts for flight attendants are said to be in the 15% range. About 2,000= =20 full-time attendants could be laid off. *************************************************** 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.ttsailing.org/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************