US Airways, American Airlines Employees Press for Merger as AMR Goes Its Own Way
AA unions decry their company's resistance to a merger with US Airways.
Transport Workers Union members picket outside bankruptcy court in New York on April 23. (Photo: TWU)
Transport Workers Union members picket outside bankruptcy court in New York on April 23. (Photo: TWU)

Notwithstanding US Airways estimates that a merger with bankrupt American Airlines would create at least $1.2 billion in new value for the combined companies, American continues to pursue its own path toward restructuring, arguing last week in bankruptcy court that it needs to void the contracts of its three main employee unions. Meanwhile, some 700 flight attendants, fleet service workers and mechanics gathered in New York City on April 23 to protest what the Transport Workers Union (TWU) characterized as “an abhorrent request” to “abrogate their collective bargaining agreements.”