Sue Oliver, American's senior vice president for human resources, said the airline is committed to getting a deal and noted President Bush has promised to do all he can to prevent airline strikes. Bush intervened to stop a strike by Northwest's mechanics union, and his administration threatened to intervene when Delta Air Lines' pilots union threatened to strike in April. American's flight attendants haven't gotten a raise since 1997. The last contract came up for renewal in 1998, and the following year, flight attendants voted down a tentative agreement. The union and airline had been negotiating with a federal mediator for months.
Nobody wants to go on strike.
But we've pushed very hard to get to this point. The dispute at giant American is expected to quickly become politicized. Texas-based American has strong ties to the Bush White House, and the airline is already lobbying key leaders in Washington. When union members visited Washington Tuesday to lobby Congress, they discovered the lawmakers had already received letters from Oliver stating American's case. Federal law allows White House intervention when an airline strike threatens a significant disruption, and American is now the USA's largest carrier.