Union Rejects Pan Am Contract

The Transport Workers Union at Pan American World Airways has rejected a contract proposal that called for $27 million in savings, a union spokesman said Thursday.

The Pan Am Corp. unit has been seeking $180 million in cost savings from the Transport Workers and four other unions for 18 months.

In June, Pan Am’s board authorized management to sell off major pieces of the airline to survive the slow winter season if the carrier could not win the cost cuts.

So far, Pan American has won contracts yielding about $90 million in annual savings from the pilots and flight engineers. But it has imposed a new contract on the Teamsters that cuts wages.

The flight attendants voted earlier this year to reject a tentative new contract that called for wage cuts.

The Transport Workers spokesman said the vote was about 60-40 against. “Let’s say it was soundly rejected,” he said.