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Thursday, April 10, 2003
American Airlines
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By David Koenig
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — American
Airlines, trying to win employee
approval of labor concessions
and keep the company out of
bankruptcy, has sweetened its
offer to workers with future
bonuses if the carrier’s financial
situation improves.
The airline said Wednesday
night that the union representing
34,000 ground workers accepted
the offer and that pilots and
flight attendants were still con
sidering it.
American, the world’s largest
carrier, says it must cut $1.8 bil
lion in annual labor costs to
avoid bankruptcy, with the bulk
of the savings coming from its
three main unions. Last week.
American agreed with leaders of
those unions on 6-year deals that
call for layoffs, upfront wage
cuts as high as 23 percent, and
reduced benefits.
But employees have com
plained about the long duration
of the contract and the modest
1.5 percent pay increases in later
years. Some workers have sug
gested that the agreements could
be voted down, which American
says would prompt a quick
bankruptcy filing.
In a move to salvage the
agreements, American offered
Wednesday to pay annual
bonuses, or a “variable wage
adjustment,” of up to 4.5 percent
beginning in 2006 if the compa
ny’s credit ratings improve to
levels before Sept. 11, 2001,
when terrorist attacks weakened
the U.S. airline industry.
In a letter Wednesday to a
union leader, American chair
man and chief executive Donald
J. Carty said the bonuses would
make “additional opportunities
available to your membership
through financial successes we
might realize together.”
Carty insisted that the side
agreement did not change last
week’s deals.
“It bears repeating that our
financial condition makes it
impossible to revisit the terms of
the agreements because we must
deliver $1.8 billion in savings,
and we must do it quickly if we
hope to stave off bankruptcy,”
he wrote to James C. Little, a
top official in the Transport
Workers Union.
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Unity
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Continued from page 4A
Ly said her membership in the sorority has taught her the differ
ence between tolerance for and acceptance of other cultures.
“There is a huge difference between the words ‘tolerance’ and
‘acceptance,’” she said. “Tolerance almost has a negative connotation
to it, like having to put up with something that you wouldn't if you
had the choice. Acceptance carries a meaning of appreciating some
body despite the fact that they are different than what you may be
used to.”
Ly said taking a step back and spending time outside of one’s own
respective cultures is the only way to leam about another lifestyle and
truly appreciate it.
“I think a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions occur because the
public is afraid of inquiring about other’s cultures because they don’t
want to appear stupid or apathetic,” she said. “At the Unity Dinner,
we want to send out the message that we are all ignorant about other
people’s way of life in some way, and it’s OK to ask questions
because it’s the only way we can learn.”
The Delta Xi Nu Unity Dinner will take place Friday in the
Hilton’s Oakwood Ballroom at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12 and can be
purchased by contacting xihoneys@yahoo.com.
NEWS IN BRIEF
head
new
new
)ding
i day
)u in
call
Miami jury convicts
police of corruption
MIAMI (AP) — In the
biggest Miami police scandal in a
generation, a federal jury convict
ed four officers of corruption
Wednesday for planting a gun on
an unarmed homeless man or
lying to cover it up.
The officers, all assigned to
elite undercover teams, were
charged after four police shoot
ings in the mid-1990s wounded
the homeless man and left three
other people dead. One of the vic
tims, an elderly drug suspect,
died in a hail of more than 100
bullets.
A sentencing date was not
immediately set.
The police ruled all the shoot
ings justified and state prosecu
tors declined to bring charges, a
point made repeatedly by defense
lawyers during the 11-week trial.
Federal prosecutors, however,
said the defendants thought they
were “untouchable” and they
called two retired officers who
said a cover story was cooked up
over lunch a day after one of the
shootings.
The shootings happened
between 1995 and 1997, a time
when Miami was under interna
tional pressure to crack down on
roving gangs of armed robbers
preying on tourists.
It was the city’s worst police
scandal since the 1980s, when
rogue cops peddled cocaine they
stole from drug traffickers. In that
case, more than 100 officers were
arrested, fired or disciplined.
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