June 1 (Reuters) - A union representing flight

attendants for American Airlines Group Inc ( AAL ) on Friday

asked workers to prepare for strike action after contract

negotiations with the carrier failed to produce an agreement.

"We remain apart on the key economics of the deal plus the

company's completely unacceptable demand for scheduling

concessions," the Association of Professional Flight Attendants

(APFA) said in a statement.

APFA said it believes that the National Mediation Board

(NMB) which is overseeing the negotiations will bring the

parties together for a "last ditch" effort in the next two

weeks.

American Airlines ( AAL ) and the NMB did not immediately respond to

request for comment outside regular business hours.

Lawmakers in the U.S. have urged the NMB to take steps to

help about 80,000 flight attendants reach contract deals.

Flight attendants at United Airlines, Alaska Air

group ( ALK ), American Airlines ( AAL ) and Frontier are among

employees at more than a dozen airlines still working to reach

new contract deals.