"We are not a bunch of lunatics who don't care about the company," said Tony Armideo, president-elect of machinists' Local 1776 of Philadelphia.
"There was no organized effort not to come to work," said Robert Boland, the local's outgoing president.
The union expressed "regrets of the entire membership to any passenger inconvenienced over the holiday weekend," Boland said.
US Airways Group Inc. faces crucial hurdles in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in coming weeks, after the holiday fiasco in which thousands of travelers and their bags were delayed, mostly in Philadelphia.
The problems were caused by bad weather, inadequate planning, staff cutbacks, and numerous sick calls over the holidays, union and company officials said.
US Airways, the region's dominant airline and the seventh-biggest nationwide, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 12 and said it needed at least $1 billion in labor cost cuts to survive. Of its five unions, three - representing pilots, engineers and customer-service workers - have ratified cuts in pay and benefits. Another union, representing flight attendants, has reached tentative agreement on a cost-cutting contract but will not finish its ratification voting until tomorrow. The machinists' union is the last without a new contract, and it is engaged in last-minute talks with the company.
"We are continuing to work toward a consensual agreement with the IAM," company spokesman David Castelveter said, declining to react further to union officials' comments.
The deadline for agreement is Thursday, when U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Stephen Mitchell has said he will rule on the airline's request to abrogate collective-bargaining contracts and impose long-term wage and benefit cuts that the airline says it needs to stay alive. "If the judge wipes out our contract, what's the incentive to come to work on Friday?" Canale said.
