"We're at the mercy of the court," said machinist Joe McGill. "I hope we can survive this, keep the maintenance base open and functioning and maybe someday start to rebuild."

McGill said the vote to reject the offer was like "drawing a line in the sand" because workers were fed up with so many concessions to the company.

For the five groups that voted "yes," workers are giving up certain parts of their contract, such as retiree medical benefits, wages and vacation. Company spokesman Bruce Hicks said the decision will save 1,300 jobs, pay raises, early retirement incentives and other benefits for the five groups that accepted the deal.

"Today's ratification announcement demonstrates American's willingness to address the TWU's interests and the union's willingness to negotiate new contracts that achieve the cost savings needed for our successful restructuring," Hicks said. "We realize this was a very difficult decision for our TWU-represented employees."

TWU did not take an official position on the contract vote. The union's international president, James C. Little, said some workers found the company's last, best offer to be a safer bet than "waiting on the court to make a decision."

"The members in bargaining units that voted 'no' thought the proposals were not in their best interests," Little said. "We respect our members' decision regardless of how they voted."

American, whose parent, AMR Corp. of Fort Worth, Texas, is working through bankruptcy court after losing $11 billion since 2001. It has operated in Tulsa for more than six decades.

Union leaders have called the Tulsa hub "the largest concentration of middle-class jobs in Oklahoma," with the average employee making about $50,000 a year, similar to the city's other main industry of oil. If the worst of the cuts go forward, some workers and city officials fear an economic collapse similar to one that hit Tulsa during the 1980s oil bust.

Engine cleaner Vickey Wall has worked for American for 27 years and voted for the offer.

"This could turn out very badly for all of us," said Wall, whose husband also works at the hub as a mechanic. "I think once they start cutting, it will be quick and deep. They'll probably get rid of a lot of us."

Aviation maintenance technician Jay Potter, who has nearly 24 years with American, expected the deal to pass but said he understood those workers who voted to reject the offer. He said they "ended up voting on emotions rather than what might be better."

"I don't know to say it any other way, to be honest with you," Potter said. "It's going to be a wild ride, no matter how you look at it."

The job cuts would also be a blow to the region's burgeoning aviation industry, which employs about 20,000 people, and could cost the local economy $300 million, according to some estimates.

"We are disappointed by the maintenance and related work group's decision to reject the latest contract offer from American Airlines," said Mike Neal, president and CEO of the Tulsa Metro Chamber. "Turning down this proposal could alter the future of the American Airlines Tulsa (base), including the potential loss more than 2,100 jobs at the facility."

Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett said that as the region focuses on aviation and aerospace as a major sector in economic development, "we need to ensure that the City of Tulsa-owned facilities in use by American Airlines are competitive on a national level and beyond."