AA transport union to vote again; Carty apologizes about undisclosed perks FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) =97 A second major union at American Airlines said=20 Monday its members would vote again on a pay-cut package designed to keep=20 the carrier from bankruptcy. The decision by the transport workers union=20 came in response to an executive bonus and pension plan that has riled=20 labor relations at the beleaguered airline. American's chairman and chief=20 executive, Donald J. Carty, repeated his apologies from last week about the= =20 perks, which were revealed after the airline's three main unions agreed to= =20 $1.8 billion in annual concessions. ``I made a mistake, and of course it=20 was a big one," Carty said at a news conference. The transport workers=20 union said late Monday on its Web site that it would have a new vote. Late= =20 Friday, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants announced that=20 its members would reconsider their $340 million share of the wage and=20 benefit cuts American has said it needs to avoid bankruptcy. The labor unrest prompted investors to sell shares of AMR, American=20 Airlines' parent, down 23 percent Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.=20 AMR shares fell $1.15 to close at $3.85. The shares jumped 52 percent last= =20 week, as American edged back from the brink of bankruptcy. Some experts in= =20 labor law said the union could have valid cause for conducting a new=20 election because the company did not disclose bonuses and payments to a=20 pension trust for top executives while it negotiated with unions for pay=20 and benefit cuts. The bonuses were rescinded, but the company won't try to= =20 recover the undisclosed amount it paid to fund the pensions for 45 top=20 executives. A spokesman for the flight attendants union said members were=20 just as upset Monday as they were when they learned of the executive perks= =20 late last week. ``The fact that we're re-balloting has really helped," said= =20 the union spokesman, George Price. ``They did feel as though they were=20 duped by the company, and now they feel they can make a fully informed=20 decision." The union at first rejected the concessions but reversed itself after=20 voting was extended by a day, which the union blamed on technological=20 glitches in the voting process. In the end, 52.7 percent of flight=20 attendants who voted approved the concessions, fearing that bankruptcy=20 would lead to even deeper wage and benefit cuts. In public, American has=20 acted as if the flight attendants' election is settled in the airline's=20 favor. Company officials say they have a ratified contract with the union=20 that takes effect May 1 and have declined further comment on the subject.=20 Some labor-law experts, however, say the unions could have legal grounds to= =20 challenge the election. Charles Craver, a professor of labor law at The=20 George Washington University, said unions have wide latitude in conducting= =20 ratification votes. He added that the company could be guilty of bargaining= =20 in bad faith if union negotiators asked about executive compensation and=20 were not told of the bonuses and pension payments. David L. Gregory, a=20 labor-law professor at St. John's University, said American could be guilty= =20 of bad-faith bargaining by threatening unions with bankruptcy unless they=20 approved concessions. He added that American might have interfered in the=20 flight attendants' voting by contacting union members on the last day =97 a= =20 complaint raised by the union. ``There is a very solid basis for this vote= =20 to be challenged," Gregory said. Even if American's actions were legal, the scholars said, they put the=20 company in a bad light just when it appeared to have avoided bankruptcy.=20 ``The American executives have put their entire corporation at risk,"=20 Craver said. Before the AMR board's decision in October, executive pensions= =20 were paid out of company general funds and would have been unsecured in=20 bankruptcy, said Bruce Hicks, the American spokesman. Hicks said the=20 company was not considering rescinding the pension payments, which were=20 made to protect the benefits in case the airline filed for bankruptcy, as=20 are the pensions of other employees. AMR also won't ask executives to=20 return money from a trust. Fort Worth-based AMR is scheduled to report=20 first-quarter earnings Wednesday, and analysts predict it will post an $800= =20 million loss. *************************************************** 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.pscutt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************