Facing layoffs, ex-TWA pilots complain of broken promises ST. LOUIS (AP) =97 TWA's name long has vanished from planes since American= =20 Airlines plucked the company from bankruptcy two years ago. Dan Cooney=20 worries that within months, his pilot's job =97 along with most vestiges of= =20 TWA =97 will go by the wayside as well. With a wife and two teenage=20 daughters, Cooney expects to be jobless by this summer in American's=20 cost-cutting plan to shed 2,500 pilots jobs =97 one-fifth of its flying= force=20 =97 and about 2,000 flight-attendant positions, nearly all of the latter=20 based here. In the jetwash of such concessions by unions hoping to spare=20 American from bankruptcy, Cooney and other former TWA pilots woven =97 they= =20 say unfairly =97 into American's ranks are plotting new livelihoods. Cooney= =20 feels betrayed by American's parent AMR, the Fort Worth, Texas-based=20 company ex-TWA workers say pledged to treat them fairly and equitably after= =20 American bought up most of St. Louis-based TWA in early 2001. "The end=20 result is that they put almost all TWA employees at the bottom of the=20 seniority list" making them the first laid-off, Cooney said Thursday from=20 his suburban St. Louis home. Bruce Hicks, a spokesman for American, said a pilots' union =97 not the=20 airline =97 "was solely responsible" for integrating TWA's pilots into=20 American's fold by seniority. After the 2001 merger of TWA and American,=20 the union that represented TWA's pilots, the Air Line Pilots Association,=20 was unable to reach a deal with the union for American's pilots on how the= =20 two work forces would combine. As a result, American's union unilaterally=20 adopted its own seniority list, putting 60 percenrt of TWA pilots at the=20 bottom of the list. Looking to soften the potential impact on former TWA=20 workers, Republican lawmakers from Missouri on Thursday sought to revive=20 the seniority issue as Congress debated a measure providing aid to=20 struggling airlines. But Sens. Kit Bond and Jim Talent and Rep. Jo Ann=20 Emerson had to back off because of procedural rules. "I think when we send= =20 taxpayer dollars to airlines, we have at least some responsibility to make= =20 sure employees are being fairly treated," Bond said. With 15 years of=20 piloting with TWA and American, Cooney believes he should have seniority =97= =20 and more pressing, job security =97 at American. But he says he's being= shown=20 the door while rookies who came up through American in recent years are=20 being kept. "I'm being laid off while a 24-year-old kid is keeping his job. Is that=20 fair and equitable?" said Cooney, 49, worrying he may lose his home with=20 his job. "I feel I've been robbed and cheated." American reached tentative deals Tuesday with its three largest labor=20 groups for $1.8 billion in concessions, including layoffs of about 2,500=20 pilots. Job cuts are to begin at the bottom of the seniority ladder.=20 Affected pilots may number as many as 600 in St. Louis, though the=20 agreement won't eliminate all ex-TWA pilots American hired. All of=20 American's roughly 1,800 St. Louis-based flight attendants will be among=20 the more than 2,000 likely to be furloughed, with those lowest in seniority= =20 =97 mainly ex-TWA workers =97 the first to be affected, officials said=20 Thursday. The three unions have until mid-April to ratify the concessions.= =20 American, with 99,000 employees, has lost nearly $5.3 billion in the past=20 two years and has faced increasing competition from low-fare carriers. Now,= =20 Cooney and other ex-TWA colleagues said their expected layoffs amid=20 upheaval in the nation's airline industry makes prospects of landing=20 comparable well-paying work elsewhere unlikely. "There are no aviation jobs= =20 to replace this job," said Jeff Darnall, a St. Louis-based American=20 Airlines pilot who spent more than a decade with TWA during his 27-year=20 flying career. "This is essentially a career-ending set of circumstances." *************************************************** 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 *********************************************************