Former TWA attendants appeal to airlines' CEO
By CHERYL WITTENAUER, AP
Posted: 2007-10-22 16:13:20

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Former TWA flight attendants who are fighting to get their old jobs back have made a plea to American Airlines' chief executive officer. In an Oct. 15 letter, they asked CEO Gerard Arpey to reach an agreement with their union to extend the recall rights of workers who were furloughed as a result of the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

American has discussed, but not come to an agreement with the union, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, about extending recall rights, airline spokeswoman Tami McLallen said."We remain open to discussing this issue but are bound by the current collective bargaining agreement," she said.American recalled 460 ex-TWA flight attendants in August, but more than 400 will have their recall rights expire in November.

That's in addition to 1,500 flight attendants that American says already have lost their recall rights, including 663 former TWA flight attendants. The ex-TWA attendants say another 1,400 from their ranks will have their recall rights expire through next July. Laid-off attendant Roger Graham from St. Charles, who's organizing the ex-TWA attendants, said the age of the ex-TWA flight attendants - 40 to 73 - and length of time spent with the airlines - 15 to 40 years - make it difficult to find comparable jobs and pensions. "These same workers have exhausted their savings, lost their homes, filed bankruptcy, and (been) forced to relocate and downsize," he wrote to Arpey. "The hardships have been catastrophic."

Graham said the group supports a bill introduced by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., that would extend recall rights to 10 years at airlines, including American, that received federal money after Sept. 11, 2001.McCaskill spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh said Monday the bill is going to the Health Education Labor and Pensions Senate Committee. McLallen said American also has met with McCaskill. Graham said the former ex-TWA workers are hopeful that McCaskill's bill, mediation, or the "good nature of one man" will help them extend their recall rights."We're in the ninth inning," he said.

American parent AMR Corp. bought TWA out of bankruptcy in early 2001. The union representing American's flight attendants put their TWA counterparts at the bottom of the seniority ladder, meaning the TWA workers were first to lose their jobs as AMR slashed thousands of jobs.Last year, the ex-TWA flight attendants picketed their union, claiming it was not representing all its members fairly. The union later agreed to do what it could to get the ex-TWA attendants back to work. The union did not return a phone call seeking comment.

On the Net:
American Airlines: http://www.aa.com/.
Association of Professional Flight Attendants http://www.apfa.org/
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.