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Non-Tech : American Airlines (AMR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: verdad who wrote (124)	4/22/2003 5:10:19 AM
From: ayn rand	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152

DALLAS, April 21 — The head of American Airlines apologized on Monday for not telling workers that top executives would receive bonuses and other benefits despite the company’s financial crisis but unions threatened to vote again on ratified concession pacts aimed at staving off bankruptcy. “I STUMBLED,” said Don Carty, the chairman and chief executive of American parent AMR Corp. “I made a mistake.... I am sorry.” American’s three major unions have expressed outrage at news last week of special pension funding — that would be paid even in bankruptcy — for senior management. The plans included in a federal filing emerged just as workers agreed to deals that would slash pay for most groups by 15 percent to 23 percent and spark thousands of layoffs. “We’re still on the precipice of bankruptcy,” Carty said, adding he had not talked to unions about plans two of them announced to vote again on the concession plans aimed at saving American $1.8 billion a year in labor costs. “The precariousness of our financial condition simply can’t sustain any action that would delay or prevent the consensual restructuring measures from taking place on schedule,” Carty said. Carty has said that in bankruptcy, the carrier would seek an additional $500 million in labor-cost cuts and there would be several thousand more lay-offs. The carrier, which narrowly avoided bankruptcy last week when unions approved the deals, said it would file for Chapter 11 protection if any one of the unions voted against the cuts. Market players saw the fight over the executive perks as sending the company deeper into dangerous territory and they sent AMR shares tumbling by 23 percent to close at $3.85 in active trade on the New York Stock Exchange, where it was the percentage loss leader. msnbc.com