Flight attendants at American Airlines may vote to strike against the Fort Worth-based carrier after "lock-down" negotiations with a federal mediator failed to produce a contract agreement.

American's flight attendants, represented by the Association of Professional Flight Attendants said AA management walked out of the five-day talks, after APFA presented a counter-proposal to American's offer of an eight-year contract calling for 2 percent wage increases in each of the first four years. American counters that its negotiators departed the discussions to form a counterproposal, but union leaders made their sentiments clearly known: "This conduct is just another demonstration of the company's bad-faith bargaining that has been in full bloom for the past 23 months," said APFA president Laura Glading. "Delay only serves the company. Each day without a new agreement equals another million dollars in the pocket of American." The National Mediation Board mediates airline labor talks under the terms of the Railway Labor Act, which also covers airline collective bargaining. The RLA limits the ability of management to lockout, and bargaining units to strike, before talks have reached an impasse. Work actions by either group are prohibited until the NMB releases the parties from mediation, and a 30 day cooling off period expires. American's ground workers, represented by the Transport Workers Union, may also ask the NMB to declare an impasse if negotiations reach a stalemate.