Flight attendants accuse American Airlines of 'corporate terror

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis-based American Airlines flight attendants said they were not surprised by the recent revelation that the airline planned to give bonuses and other perks to top executives.

In interviews Saturday at Lambert Airport, they said it was one more sign of the "corporate terrorism" inflicted on them since American bought out Trans World Airlines, around which they'd built decades-long careers.

"He has apologized, but he has a tarnished image," one flight attendant said of American chairman and chief executive Donald J. Carty.

"American's in the same class as Enron and WorldCom. How well can he lead? There's no credibility."

The bonuses were disclosed after American employees in three unions voted earlier in the week to accept $10 billion in wage cuts and other concessions to American Airlines over six years.

The airline had said it would file for bankruptcy immediately if any of its three main unions failed to approve the concessions.

Late Friday, the flight attendants' union called for a new election after American belatedly disclosed bonuses for seven top executives and partial funding of extra pension benefits for 45 executives.

But the St. Louis-based union representative says a new election isn't needed.

Sherry Cooper, who represents the St. Louis-based flight attendants, said by phone Saturday that leadership in the Association of Professional Flight Attendants should have stood by membership's initial "no" vote. Instead, she said, the union caved in to company pressure for a second vote, which narrowly approved the concessions.

"The second vote should not have happened," Cooper said. "If (union leaders) had honored the first vote count, we wouldn't be in this mess. When you start playing around with the rules of the game, things get messy."

St. Louis-based flight attendants estimate that "99.9 percent" of them voted against the concessions, saying they had nothing to lose since the labor givebacks would cost them their jobs, anyway. The St. Louis-based workers had hoped for better treatment if American went bankrupt.

All of American's roughly 1,800 St. Louis-based flight attendants are among more than 2,000 likely to be furloughed in the agreement. They have been the first to be affected by cuts.

All had long careers with TWA, but lost seniority and the right to be based in their home cities when American bought St. Louis-based TWA in early 2001. More than half commute from other cities to work out of the St. Louis base.

On April 30, a federal judge in New York is to determine whether the latest balloting by the flight attendants union is valid. Former TWA flight attendants also are suing their union and American over lost seniority rights.

One St. Louis flight attendant said both she and her husband have been furloughed, effective April 30. They're not sure how they'll manage with three young children, a mortgage and a car payment. They had to cancel plans to put braces on their twins' teeth.

"The Donald, that's what we call him, made all kinds of promises, and has broken every single one," a flight attendant said. "We were absolutely duped."