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COPYRIGHT 2001 The Dallas Morning News
Byline: Terry Maxon
May 29--No one was certain last summer whether pilots at American Airlines Inc. would accept a one-year contract extension between their union and the carrier.
But all doubt vanished after members of the Allied Pilots Association learned about pay raises of 21.5 percent to 28.7 percent for their peers at rival United Airlines Inc. The contract extension was sunk.
"Their contract was so much superior to what [American chairman] Don Carty was willing to offer us. I think that sealed its fate," said union president John Darrah.
The shock wave from the United contract is still reverberating through the airline industry nearly a year after the carrier's management -- eager to get its pilots to accede to a merger with US Airways Inc. -- offered hefty pay raises and substantial concessions on work rules.
Because each airline closely watches rivals, the United contract caused management groups industrywide to swallow hard and pilot unions to reassess their demands.
"It set a new gold standard for pilot compensation at the large network carriers,...
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