Strike by Flight Attendants Possible

Wednesday, December 6th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) â€” Flight attendants for American Airlines may ask members to authorize a strike in the wake of what they call an inadequate company offer and a federal mediators' move to recess contract talks indefinitely.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants is also considering a request that the National Mediation Board declare an impasse, release both sides from negotiations and begin a 30-day period after which a strike could begin, said John Ward, the union's president.

``At this point, we don't intend to sit around and wait any longer,'' Ward told reporters on Tuesday at the union's Euless headquarters.

Members of the federal mediation board on Monday ordered an indefinite recess at the recommendation of federal mediator Linda Puchala, who met last week with company and union negotiators in Chicago.

At those meetings, negotiators for the union representing American's 23,000 flight attendants criticized the company's comprehensive set of contract proposals as ``totally unacceptable.''

``The union is in a situation where we're either going to wait for the company to decide they want to do the right thing, or our group steps out from the table,'' Ward told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Wednesday's editions.

Company negotiators on Nov. 16 had offered the union an immediate 8 percent pay raise, followed by additional wage increases of 3.5 percent and 3.6 percent in subsequent years.

The union had rejected that proposal, which it said offered only marginally better pay boosts than those contained in a tentative agreement rejected by members in 1999 and that other components were inferior.

American, in a statement Tuesday night, said it remains ``ready to conclude negotiations as soon as possible to provide our flight attendants with a top contract.''

American flight attendants picketed at 36 airports nationwide, including Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field, after the November offer was rejected.

Negotiations have continued for about two years. Federal law guiding the airline industry states that workers can't strike until a federal mediator declares an impasse and a 30-day cooling-off period ends without an agreement.

â€”â€”â€”

On the Net:

Association of Professional Flight Attendants: http://www.apfa.org

American Airlines: http://www.aa.com