American’s Ticket Agents Vote Not to Unionize

AMR Corp.’s American Airlines ticket and reservation agents failed to garner enough votes to join the Communications Workers of America union, remaining the No. 2 U.S. airline’s only nonunion employee group. Of 14,177 eligible voters, 5,794, or 41%, voted to join the union--short of the majority required by the National Mediation Board. Workers sought a union to help bring their pay in line with peers at airlines such as Northwest Airlines Corp., Trans World Airlines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. While AMR spokeswoman Sonja Whitemon said the results show “employees think we’re on the right track,” the union said it will file an objection with the mediation board over AMR actions that it considers illegal. The union wouldn’t be more specific. Ballots were mailed to eligible voters Nov. 12, with the results tallied by the mediation board. Fort Worth-based AMR’s stock rose 88 cents to close at $55.88 on the NYSE.