=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/2004/01/14/f= inancial1635EST0250.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, January 14, 2004 (AP) American Airlines to meet with labor leaders (01-14) 13:35 PST FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- American Airlines plans to meet with labor leaders this month to discuss ways of improving customer service at the world's largest carrier. Labor groups welcomed the meeting, scheduled for Jan. 28-29, less than a year after management told employees they needed to accept $1.8 billion in annual wage and benefit concessions or force the company into bankruptcy. An airline spokesman, Roger Frizzell, said American has delayed finishing customer-service ideas until it can meet with employees. American, whose parent company AMR Corp. eked out a narrow profit in the third quarter after losing more than $6 billion since early 2001, has long had difficult labor-management relations, including strikes and a costly pilot sickout in the 1990s. Last year, Arpey hired a consulting firm to help mend the divisions. Consultants invited union leaders into management strategy sessions that had been previously closed. Representatives of all of the airline's unions and it nonunion ticket agents have been invited to this month's gathering, as well as representatives of employees not represented by unions. Delta Air Lines, the nation's third-largest carrier, has also said it wi= ll seek to improve customer service in 2004. On the Net: www.amrcorp.com =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 AP