American Airlines Inc. finally reached an agreement with its largest union on a new contract covering its ground workers. The agreement happened early Friday.
10,600 fleet service employees, who stock, clean and load airplanes are covered in the tentative agreement.

With the deal and three others reached in early May, American and the Transport Workers have tentative agreements covering over 23,000 of the total 25, 000 TWU members at the carrier.

“Both parties worked collaboratively during the negotiating process, and American believes the tentative agreement addresses the interests of both our TWU-represented employees and the company,” American spokeswoman Missy Latham said Friday.

Prior to this agreement, American had worked out deals with mechanics and related employees, technical specialists and stores employees. Talks regarding dispatchers, simulator technicians and ground school instructors remain unresolved.

The two sides started talks in November 2007 and began working with the National Mediation Board since January 2009. In March TWU officials asked the NMB to announce an impasse and release the parties from mediation, a step that could have caused a strike.

The most recent proposal along with the previous three will go to membership to be voted on this summer after final language is written and the members have enough time to review the agreements.

The airline is also in negotiations with the Association of Professional Flight Attendants and Allied Pilots Association.  Last Friday American and APFA had their latest round of talks.

They’re now awaiting instructions from the NMB. Similar to the TWU, the APFA has a standing request to be released from mediation so a strike could be in the future.

Source: The Dallas Morning News