=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2004/04/16/f= inancial0953EDT0518.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, April 16, 2004 (AP) Arbitrator orders American Airlines to pay millions to pilots' union (04-16) 06:53 PDT FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- An arbitrator ordered American Airlines to pay more than $23 million to its pilots' union, saying the world's largest airline improperly subcontracted flights to circumvent its labor contract. The Fort Worth-based airline must repay the amount it would have paid its pilots for those regional flights, arbitrator Stephen Goldberg said Thursday. The ruling cannot be appealed. "We are very gratified with the decision, in which the arbitrator agreed that American violated what had been clear language in our contract," said Steve Blankenship of the Allied Pilots Association. American executives said in a statement that they believed the airline h= ad "fully complied" with the pilots' contract. American inherited contracts with two regional carriers when it bought T= WA in 2001. The regional flights, which operate under the name American Connection, were booked under a different flight code -- which meant they technically were not American flights. Pilots for American Connection carriers are paid less than those at American Airlines. The airline halted the booking practice last year, but Goldberg said the airline still owed pilots for the two years that the flights were improperly diverted. AMR Corp., American's parent company, has posted only one profitable quarter since the beginning of 2001. It was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy last year before winning employee approval for $1.8 billion a year in labor concessions, including wage and benefit cuts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 AP