Former TWA flight attendants get extended recall rights
Dec 20, 2007

WASHINGTON American Airlines has agreed to give about 1,200 former TWA flight attendants more time to get their jobs back. The ex-flight attendants were among more than 2,500 laid off in 2001, shortly after the two airlines merged.

Several hundred of the former TWA employees have been recalled in the past year, but the remaining 1,200 were close to losing their five-year recall rights.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., brokered the deal between the Association of Professional Flight Attendants and Fort Worth, Texas-based American to extend the recall rights for two more years.

"At the rate American Airlines is hiring employees, we expect that all employees on the recall list will have an opportunity to get their jobs back if they so desire," said Sean Kennedy, McCaskill's chief of staff. Kennedy said the deal was finalized on Thursday. "Sen. McCaskill is thrilled that she was able to bring closure to a dispute that's been simmering for five years now," Kennedy said.
McCaskill, who has been working on the deal for months, plans to announce details Friday at a 10:30 a.m. CST news conference at the Robert A. Young federal building in St. Louis.

The layoffs that began in 2001 were linked to the widespread problems the aviation industry faced after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The TWA employees were laid off in waves starting in 2001, and the last group to lose their jobs would have seen their five-year recall rights expire in July.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.