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American goes ahead with layoffs of 3,100 flight attendants
Dallas, July 02: American Airlines began laying off more than 3,100 flight attendants after a federal judge turned aside a union`s bid to block the job losses.
Dallas, July 02: American Airlines began laying off more than 3,100 flight attendants after a federal judge turned aside a union's bid to block the job losses.
More than half the workers who lost their jobs today had worked for Trans World Airlines before American's parent company bought TWA out of bankruptcy in 2001.
In St. Louis, the longtime home of TWA, and other bases around the country, flight attendants finishing their last day of work were turning in uniforms, identification badges and keys. The 3,123 layoffs were sealed in May when American and its employees agreed to USD 1.8 billion in annual labor cost reductions to keep the company out of bankruptcy. The concessions, including sharp pay cuts, were approved in contentious voting by unions representing flight attendants, pilots and ground workers.
A spokesman for American said service would not be affected by the layoffs. About 900 flight attendants were being transferred to St. Louis to replace the laid-off TWA workers, he said.
Former TWA employees bore the brunt of the layoffs because they lost in a power struggle between two Union Groups after American parent American Corp. bought TWA. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, representing American's workers, placed former TWA attendants at the bottom of the seniority list, making them the first to be hit by layoffs.
The former TWA flight attendants workers went to federal court in New York in an attempt to block the layoffs with a lawsuit against American, its former chief executive, TWA and the president of American's Flight Attendants' Union.
Bureau Report
In St. Louis, the longtime home of TWA, and other bases around the country, flight attendants finishing their last day of work were turning in uniforms, identification badges and keys. The 3,123 layoffs were sealed in May when American and its employees agreed to USD 1.8 billion in annual labor cost reductions to keep the company out of bankruptcy. The concessions, including sharp pay cuts, were approved in contentious voting by unions representing flight attendants, pilots and ground workers.
A spokesman for American said service would not be affected by the layoffs. About 900 flight attendants were being transferred to St. Louis to replace the laid-off TWA workers, he said.
Former TWA employees bore the brunt of the layoffs because they lost in a power struggle between two Union Groups after American parent American Corp. bought TWA. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, representing American's workers, placed former TWA attendants at the bottom of the seniority list, making them the first to be hit by layoffs.
The former TWA flight attendants workers went to federal court in New York in an attempt to block the layoffs with a lawsuit against American, its former chief executive, TWA and the president of American's Flight Attendants' Union.
Bureau Report