Source:
Star-TelegramBy TREBOR BANSTETTER
Federal airline regulators have rejected a request by American Airlines' pilots union to mediate slow-moving contract talks but offered to help labor and management find another way to speed up negotiations.
In a letter to the Allied Pilots Association, officials with the National Mediation Board said mediation "is most productive when the parties have narrowed the issues in direct negotiations." The board offered to explore "alternative methods" of moving the process along before resorting to mediation.
Union leaders said they were disappointed with the decision and accused American management of deliberately delaying the talks.
"It appears our negotiations are not following a typical pattern, considering the fact that management has been unresponsive throughout 18 months of bargaining," Lloyd Hill, an American captain and president of the union, said in a prepared statement.
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