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Challenges of voter eligibility are likely in American Airlines bankruptcy

Nearly 10,000 U.S. passenger service agents at bankrupt American Airlines are voting in a union representation election in which the company or the Communications Workers of America may challenge up to 10 percent of the ballots, officials said.

BY D.R. STEWART don.stewart@tulsaworld.com | Published: December 5, 2012 Comment on this article

American spokesman Bruce Hicks said the company sought court action to stop the election because a majority of passenger service agents did not want a union election.

“We believe that all agents and representatives who will be part of the future of the new American should be allowed to participate in this vote,” Hicks said. “It's disappointing that the union would argue that nearly 1,000 people it wants to ‘represent' should not have a say in this election and in paying union dues.”

Voter eligibility in the representation election will be determined by the National Mediation Board.

Union officials said American's passenger service agents, including 26 at Tulsa International Airport and 22 at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, are without a voice in the company's bankruptcy layoffs and cuts in pay and benefits.

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