The Associated Press reports tonight that American Airlines and the TWU have ended talks concerning a potential “extension” of the current  TWU contract.

Instead of extending the current contract that expires in May, the company and the TWU will now apparently start at square one, negotiating an entirely new contract.

“Over the past few weeks, American Airlines and the Transport Workers Union held a series of informal, facilitated meetings to discuss a limited number of contract issues,” said American spokeswoman Sue Gordon. “These meetings have concluded and the parties have agreed to proceed into formal negotiations … as originally planned beginning Nov. 7.”

No question this is a major setback for American management. American clearly was trying to get the TWU to sign on to an extension — which would have taken some of the pressure off. Now, the airline is again looking at three major labor contracts being negotiated at the same time.

Click here to read the Associated Press article.

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