American To Make Case Against Union Contracts In Effort To Cut Jobs

By David Koenig

DALLAS -- American Airlines heads to federal court Monday to convince a bankruptcy judge that to survive, it must break labor agreements that workers fought decades to win.

The airline lost more than $10 billion in the decade leading up to its declaration of bankruptcy last November. During that same period most of its major rivals used the bankruptcy process to cut wages and benefits, which American says has left it saddled with higher labor costs.