surreal1221
Well-Known Member
Hold on. . .it's about to get bumpy.
Good luck gents / gals. We're all behind you.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121744569237297829.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Good luck gents / gals. We're all behind you.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121744569237297829.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
UAL Corp.'s United Airlines said it asked a federal judge Wednesday for a preliminary injunction blocking its pilots from engaging in an unlawful sickout and no-overtime campaign that is forcing the airline to cancel abnormal numbers of flights and disrupt its passengers.
The No. 2 U.S. airline by traffic said it filed suit in U.S. District Court against the Air Line Pilots Association union, which represents its 6,500 pilots, and four named aviators whom it alleged are organizing the campaign partly in opposition to United's plan to reduce its fleet size and furlough pilots. As a result of the alleged behavior, United said it has canceled hundreds of flights this summer.
A spokesman for the union couldn't immediately be reached.
"It is absolutely irresponsible for ALPA to promote unlawful behavior, particularly in this environment, when the industry is taking unprecedented actions to offset record fuel prices," said Peter McDonald, UAL's executive vice president and chief administrative officer.
In May, the latest month for which government statistics are available, United canceled 718 flights, or 1.8% of its total, which made it the fourth worst of 19 airlines by that measure. Its arrival punctuality of flights that did operate, 72.4%, was second from the bottom in the government rankings.
FlightStats, a Web site that tracks actual flights, indicated that between May 15 and July 15, United canceled or diverted 4% of its flights on its 20 busiest routes, with disruptions up to 7% on the New York LaGuardia to Chicago run. Those percentages are abnormally high.
United's Mr. McDonald said the alleged sick-leave abuse, along with a campaign of "intimidation" that discourages pilots from volunteering as they normally do for additional flight hours, is resulting in an illegal slowdown.
The pilots union has made no secret of its unhappiness about working for more than five years under "draconian contract and work rules negotiated under the duress of bankruptcy," according to ALPA's latest hotline message to the United pilots. The union has been pressing United in recent months to reopen the current contract, which legally doesn't come up for renewal until early in 2010, and improve the terms. The pilots' contract, forged during UAL's lengthy bankruptcy reorganization, cut their pay, forced them to fly more hours and terminated their defined-benefit pension plan.
Recently under severe financial pressure again because of high fuel prices and the slowing economy, United has announced plans to shed 100 aircraft – 22% -- from its fleet and cut its domestic capacity by about 16% by the end of this year. That will lead the airline to furlough 950 pilots by the end of next year. The furloughs and the shrinking fleet also are deeply resented by the pilot group, which already has withstood a deep round of layoffs after the 2001 terrorist attacks and the pain of the three-year bankruptcy case.
It isn't uncommon for airlines to sue their unions when they believe the workers are engaging in disruptive behavior, in part to protect other employees from the problem but mostly to reduce the impact on passengers. But the litigation often results in bad blood that takes a long time to be forgotten.
In 2000, United won a temporary restraining order against its mechanics union in order to stave off concerted job actions that would have interfered with the heavy Thanksgiving travel period. United asked for judicial help after suffering from a summer of pilot-inspired turmoil, disruptions it didn't fight in the courts.
In 2001, Delta Air Lines Inc. won a preliminary injunction to block its pilots from waging a no-overtime campaign that forced numerous flight cancellations. AMR Corp.'s American Airlines in 1990 and again in 1999 won judicial orders blocking its pilots from participating in sickouts or other work slowdowns.
Northwest Airlines Corp. last summer alleged that absenteeism by some of its pilots forced it to scratch thousands of flight. It didn't sue, however, but took some of the blame for phasing in too quickly new, concessionary work rules negotiated during its stay in Chapter 11.