Skip to footer

American Airlines: Let's talk. Pilots: Put it in writing.

Although American officials say they want to resume contract talks, its pilots are taking a wait-and-see approach. Bankruptcy has allowed American to change pilots' pay and work rules, but since then more of its flights have been canceled.

|
M. Spencer Green/AP/File
Over 200 American Airline pilots marched on a picket line at O'Hare International Airport last Thursday. The airline wants to resume contract talks, but pilots are leery after American changed their pay and work rules.
  • By Associated Press

| DALLAS

American Airlines officials say they want to resume contract negotiations with pilots, but the union wants a written invitation.

The Allied Pilots Association said late Sunday night that it hasn't met with management, no talks are scheduled, and no deal is imminent.

With permission from a federal bankruptcy judge, American set new pay and work rules for pilots this month. Since then, American has seen more canceled and delayed flights. It blames pilots for filing last-minute maintenance requests and calling in sick.

The union says maintenance requests cover safety issues and sick days are running close to normal.

A company spokesman said last week that American was ready to resume negotiations. The union says it needs the request in writing to "establish a protocol" for talks.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to American Airlines: Let's talk. Pilots: Put it in writing.
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0925/American-Airlines-Let-s-talk.-Pilots-Put-it-in-writing
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe