=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/04/10/f= inancial2120EDT0354.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, April 10, 2003 (AP) American Airlines chief gets skeptical reception from workers ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer (04-10) 18:20 PDT FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- American Airlines chairman and CEO Donald J. Carty on Thursday continued his campaign to sell workers on a concessions plan to keep the airline from bankruptcy. Workers are being asked to reduce their pay and eliminate some of their jobs, but Carty told about 200 workers at a hotel ballroom that the alternative would be worse. "Shared sacrifice has to lead to shared success, and that is what this plan is all about," he said. American's dire financial situation "is not your fault; it's not my fault," Carty told the group, mostly mechanics. "It's a whole bunch of things that have come together to radically disrupt our lives." Last week, the company reached tentative agreements to reduce annual spending for pilots, flight attendants and transport workers by $1.6 billion -- the bulk of $1.8 billion in overall annual labor cost cuts. The reaction to Carty's pep talk was skeptical. "It's the fact that we're giving up more than money, like time away from family," said Joseph Grassley, a mechanic who said he will vote against the agreement partly because it would cut his four weeks of vacation by half and reduce other benefits. "I have kids, and kids get sick a lot. I've already refinanced my home and sold one car." A few miles away, more than 100 company pilots gathered at an airport hotel to hear their union leaders discuss details of a tentative agreement to cut $660 million a year by slashing nearly 2,500 pilots' jobs and cutting their pay 23 percent this year. Some pilots urged co-workers to reject the six-year agreement, saying American used bullying tactics during negotiations. Miami-based pilot Dave Bates said the contract is too long and severe and that the company may file for Chapter 11 protection from creditors anyway. Others disagreed. "It's a bitter pill to swallow, but most of us have loyalty to the compa= ny and don't want to see bankruptcy," said John Blackstone, an American pilot for 12 years. Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., parent company of the world's largest airlin= e, has lost nearly $5.3 billion in the past two years and has faced increasing competition from low-fare carriers. Union members have until Monday to vote, and company officials say a bankruptcy filing is imminent if any group rejects the agreements. "The filing will be almost immediate; the company has been losing a lot = of money every day," said Jeff Brundage, the company's chief labor-relations official. The company has said that bankruptcy lenders would insist on an addition= al $500 million in annual labor cuts. American was poised to file for bankruptcy March 31 before reaching the agreements with negotiators for the three main unions, which represent about two-thirds of its 99,000 employees. The Transport Workers Union's plan calls for $620 million in concessions, but voting was suspended Wednesday while union and company negotiators finished drafting language in one section of the agreement. The flight attendants are voting on a plan to cut $340 million annually with nearly 2,000 layoffs and 15.6 percent pay cuts. On Wednesday, American offered bonuses of up to 4.5 percent beginning in 2006 if the company's credit rating improves several notches to investment grade, where it stood just before the terrorist attacks of September 2001, which weakened the U.S. airline industry. The transport workers' union accepted the bonus provision, while the oth= er two unions were considering the proposal Thursday. Separately, the union said it would resume voting Thursday night after a one-day delay to let negotiators draft final wording of one section of the tentative agreement. AMR shares rose 1 cent to close at $3.80 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. Business Writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP