By AP/KWMU
St. Louis – Friday will be the last day of work for more than 200 American Airlines ground crew workers in St. Louis.
Most are mechanics. Some will be able to go to other cities if they choose.
But union leaders say former TWA workers from St. Louis will still have less job security than other American employees.
That's because they lost seniority when American bought TWA in 2001. Stephen Prehn is with the Transport Workers Union."They'll find out where we go throughout the system, and then they can find out, well two people went to San Francisco," Prehn said. " Well, we can lay of two people in San Francisco.' And eventually it's all going to end up back here on the unemployment line."
But American spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan says the cuts were not unexpected.
"There was a body of work that had to be done in order to TWA-acquired aircraft into American aircraft," Fagan said. "And what's happened is the mod work is done."
The airline will also thin the ranks of baggage handlers at Lambert in January, and cut more jobs company-wide early next year.