American Says It Has Begun Training to Replace Strikers

A crippling strike by flight attendants against American Airlines entered its third day on Saturday, with the largest U.S. air carrier saying it had started training recruits to replace the strikers.

“We have started training classes,” said American spokesman Willard Dreslin, adding that the first 10-day class for outside recruits began on Friday.

Since the 11-day strike started, American has had 2,800 applicants for flight attendants at Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport, he said.

Once flight attendants are trained and certified, they go into a pool from which they can be hired, Dreslin said. The Ft. Worth-based airline says it will recruit in about 30 cities.

The union said that, by its count, only 300 of the outside trainees would be trained in time to act as permanent replacements for striking flight attendants who plan to return to work on Nov. 29.

The Assn. of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents 21,000 American flight attendants, went on strike after the two sides could not reach agreement on pay, staffing, scheduling and health benefits.

The strike was timed to hit the airline during the busy Thanksgiving holiday period.

American said the flight attendants will not all have jobs to return to as the company downsizes.

“The size of the airline on Nov. 29 will likely be smaller than the size of the airline when the strike began,” Dreslin said. “There will not be 21,000 jobs on Nov. 29; we’re going to need fewer flight attendants.”

Meanwhile, American has had to continue canceling flights and flying planes carrying only mail and cargo because enough flight attendants did not show up to work.

Federal law requires one flight attendant for every 50 seats.

The flight attendants’ union said at a press conference that figures from the Allied Pilots Assn. showed that as of noon Saturday, an estimated 80% of scheduled departures operated, of which 60% were without passengers.

But American said the situation was improving. “More flight attendants have been coming back to work as the strike progresses,” Dreslin said.