<p>Comair, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines Inc., said Monday it will impose wage cuts and changes in work rules for the regional airline's 970 flight attendants beginning Nov. 15.</p><p>The action comes more than two months after a federal bankruptcy judge gave Comair permission to throw out its contract with the flight attendants. Comair was seeking concessions of $7.9 million a year as part of a package of cuts from its flight attendants, pilots and mechanics.</p><p>The flight attendants have threatened to go on strike if Comair imposed concessions, and the company said Monday that it will seek an order to prevent the union from engaging in any type of work action, such as a strike or a work slowdown.</p><p>"We believe that any such action would be illegal and that a judge's decision in recent weeks to block a strike by Northwest Airlines flight attendants further strengthens our position," Comair President Don Bornhorst said in a memo to employees Monday.</p><p>Bornhorst said the company was prepared to take appropriate steps to ensure that customers can continue to have confidence in Comair.</p><p>Comair said it has tried to reach a deal with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that represents its flight attendants since last November.</p><p>Even with the adjustments to the contract that include an average pay cut of 7.5 percent, the company says its flight attendants will remain the highest paid in the regional airline industry. The average flight attendant salary is $29,950 and the average pay cut is $2,250.</p><p>Messages seeking comment from the union were left at the Teamsters' national office in Washington and at the local union office.</p><p>Comair said it remains willing to negotiate and still wants a deal with the union. The airline, based in nearby Erlanger, Ky., also has been negotiating with its pilots and mechanics union.</p><p>Comair had earlier reached an agreement with its pilots for $17.3 million in cuts and for $1 million from its mechanics, but those deals were contingent on Comair getting $8.9 million in givebacks from flight attendants. Talks resumed with the pilots and mechanics after Comair said it had reduced the flight attendant concessions to $7.9 million.</p><p>Bornhorst has said the carrier needs to cut labor costs to be able to avoid shrinking its service.</p><p>Delta announced Aug. 22 that it had requested bids for some of its regional jet service, much of which is handled by Comair. Comair Flight 5191 crashed five days later in Lexington, Ky., killing 49 people, and Delta extended a Sept. 18 bid deadline to Oct. 2.</p><p>Comair submitted its bid by last week's deadline, saying that it reflected the restructuring it has completed in nonunion areas and the savings forecast for the flight attendants and mechanics.</p><p>But the company said it was so far apart on a new deal with the pilots union that it would not include those concessions and the lack of pilot concessions would likely cost the airline any chance of winning the bid.</p><p>Bornhorst and Joe Tiberi, spokesman for the International Association of Maintenance and Aerospace Workers representing the mechanics, said Monday that progress has been made in those talks. Tiberi said the IAM had no comment on the company's decision to impose concessions on the flight attendants.</p><p>No significant progress has been made with the pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, and no new talks have been scheduled with that group, Bornhorst said. ALPA told the company that it would not be able to negotiate until the end of October, he said.</p><p>"What the company is saying is extremely confusing," ALPA spokesman Paul Denke said. "We have always been willing to meet anytime and anywhere. We want a fair and consensual agreement."</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cde5dc)</p><p>HASH(0x1cde684)</p>
