American Eagle flight attendants worried by merger

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- The union representing American Eagle flight attendants says members are increasingly worried about their fate if the merger of American Airlines and US Airways goes through.

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA complains that American Airlines parent AMR Corp. has outsourced some regional flying from Eagle to other carriers, and that US Airways executives asked Eagle pilots this summer to make labor-contract concessions.

"This merger may not be good for all workers," Robert Barrow, president of the Eagle flight attendants' union, which represents about 1,800 people, said Tuesday. He said Eagle flight attendants deserved to know their role after the merger.

The Eagle union official's comments came the same day that American and US Airways Group Inc. employees boarded two jets to fly to Washington and lobby for the merger. Unions representing American's pilots, flight attendants and mechanics were key early backers of the merger.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued last month to block the deal, saying it would reduce competition and boost prices. A trial is set for November. The companies said 200 to 300 union members planned to travel to Washington to lobby members of Congress and hold a rally at the Capitol.

Mark Sandlin, an American flight attendant who was waiting to fly from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on the lobbying trip, said he was initially ambivalent about the merger but came to see it as vital to American's future success.

In April 2012, US Airways struck agreements with American's labor unions on contracts that were more generous than terms that AMR sought to impose as part of its bankruptcy restructuring. "Then the rank-and-file really started to get on board" in support of the merger, Sandlin said.

Approval of the merger is the last hurdle stopping AMR from emerging from bankruptcy protection. It filed for bankruptcy in November 2011.