Pilots Sue Airlines And Thier Union

[Light Years]

Anyone know when the results of the arbitration are?

If they win that, does that mean Republic must take all of the US Airways pilots? What about the flight attendants?

How would winning or losing the arbitration affect the outside lawsuits?

And does anyone have a link to the details of the lawsuit?

 

[Light Years]

Pilots sue airline, union

By Thomas Olson
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW – Pittsburgh, PA,
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, October 19, 2005

About 240 US Airways pilots have filed a lawsuit against the airline and their own union in federal court seeking $400 million in damages, claiming US Airways duped them about pay and the status of MidAtlantic Airways.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, claims a breach of the pilots' collective bargaining agreement, a breach of the union's duty of representation, racketeering and violations of the Railway Labor Act, which governs airline labor agreements.

Aside from US Airways, the lawsuit names the Air Line Pilots Association, US Airways' merger partner America West Airlines, Republic Airways Holdings and its majority owner, Wexford Capital.

The complaint alleges US Airways, with cooperation from the union, deceived furloughed pilots into thinking that if they agreed to fly regional jets for express carrier MidAtlantic, they should only receive about half what they once earned flying larger jets at mainline US Airways. The difference in pay and benefits represents most of the damages sought by the lawsuit.

"None of the pilots was aware that MidAtlantic simply did not exist," said the complaint. "The truth, however, was that the 'MidAtlantic' pilots were, in fact, US Airways pilots."

Of the 239 pilot plaintiffs, 30 of them are based in Western Pennsylvania, said the complaint filed Oct. 7. The airline employs 3,441 pilots overall, including 322 who fly for MidAtlantic. Of them, 220 were hired from among the 1,800 US Airways mainline pilots on furlough, per existing "jets for jobs" contract provisions.

US Airways formed MidAtlantic in 2002 as an express-carrier division based in Pittsburgh. It was meant to fly Embraer regional jets and help feed passengers to mainline flights of financially struggling US Airways. In March, US Airways agreed to sell the operation, including the aircraft fleet and landing slots, to Republic and transferred MidAtlantic pilots to the Indianapolis-based carrier.

"Our agreement with Republic on the sale of Embraer assets is in full compliance with our collective bargaining agreements with ALPA," said US Airways and America West in a prepared statement. "This transaction was contemplated and agreed to by the parties during negotiations on this issue."

But the complaint said US Airways hid from pilots the fact it never obtained a separate operating certificate for MidAtlantic. Once US Airways acquired 70-seat regional jets in March 2004, it even painted them, "US Airways Express." US Airways said MidAtlantic captains would earn $58,000 and first officers would earn $35,000 -- or about half the pay scale at mainline.

By "participating in the fiction" that MidAtlantic was an independent subsidiary, "ALPA breached its duty of fair representation" of the pilots, said the lawsuit. It also claims MidAtlantic pay scales were not reached in steps required by the Railway Labor Act.

Neither the pilots union nor Republic could not be reached yesterday.

Thomas Olson can be reached at tolson@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7854

 

[SoldWholeSale]

Anyone know when the results of the arbitration are?

If they win that, does that mean Republic must take all of the US Airways pilots? What about the flight attendants?

How would winning or losing the arbitration affect the outside lawsuits?

And does anyone have a link to the details of the lawsuit?

The summary is due in the next ten days. The actual results of the arbitration, won't be known until sometime in the first two weeks of November. If indeed the result of the arbitration is the determination that the event is a "change in control", and not a "sale of assets", Republic would be required to take all of the employees as well as existing labor agreements.

The arbitration really does not affect the lawsuit a great deal one way or the other. Best case, its a feather in the hat of the MDA pilots in regard to the legal issues. In regard to QOL, it means everything to the MDA pilots to at least retain employment and working conditions.

There is no place I know of where the exact suit can be viewed at this time. When it is OK to do so, I will make sure everyone knows where to find it.

ALL OR NONE!

SH

 

[Light Years]

Thanks wholesale. Just to double check, if a change of control, that would include the cabin crews as well?

So at that point, MAA would basically continue as is, but with the Republic operating certificate? Would the furloughee and flow-through protocols for vacancies still be honored?

 

[SoldWholeSale]

As I understand it, a change in control would just mean someone else was writing the checks. Of coarse, its not that simple. None of the Wexford/CHQ/Republic employees are AFA or ALPA, so there would have to be a formal merger between the two groups, their contracts, and choice of which unions would represent the groups. ---- At this time, I would rather go there as a change of control and go with the IBT, just to be away from ALPA! Not to mention, the lousy pay on the ERJ-190 at mainline since the MEC once again duped the group.

ALL OR NONE!

SH

 

[Viper16]

"After reading the AvNet post, I still don't understand what legal claims the MDA pilots are making.

I don't see the connection between the "camouflaging" and the lower wages. If the beef is that they negotiated lower wages for MDA pilots, I don't see why it matters whether it was technically a separate company or not. People at the same company can make different wages. What's the legal relevance to the claims being made?"

I agree that different wages could be negotiated for certain fleet types but the basic contract should remain the same. As others have stated here, the company was usibg mainline assets when it suited them and at other times used separate assets. Why do we pay more than mainline pilots for an inferior medical plan- why couldn't we stay under mainline - where is the economy of scale? They outsourced our payroll yet the money comes from the same pockets as mainline since we are a division and not a separtae company. We have mainline dispatchers working our flights from OCC, mainline gate agents and rampers working our flights - mainline ground school instructors, USAirways corporate negotiators-not MDA personnel working on contract issues - PIT,PHL & DCA chief pilots are our supervisors - the list is endless. PSA nor Piedmont does not have mainline do all these things for them. The company uses mainline when they want but we can't do the same. I'm not allowed to use my 700 hrs of sick time I still have sitting at mainline. My time at MDA does not count towards my mainline longevity nor do I receive any DC contributations. Are we mainline or not - that is the question that is trying to be answered. There are hundreds of instances where mainline resources are used to run MDA yet they keep telling us we are a separate unit. See how they want to keep us separate when it is to their advantage.

ALPA considers us part of the USAirways ALPA - we can vote on mainline issues just as you can vote on MDA issues, however the company does not consider us mainline.

Can you see where the confusion comes in. Metrojet had lower pay scales and some different contract items but it was still part of mainline. MDA organization has been botched from the start.

Anyone know when the results of the arbitration are?

If they win that, does that mean Republic must take all of the US Airways pilots? What about the flight attendants?

How would winning or losing the arbitration affect the outside lawsuits?

And does anyone have a link to the details of the lawsuit?

The legal briefs were sent to the arbitrator on 6 Oct and there will be an executive session with the system board members and the arbitrator on 26 Oct. Once that is complete the arbitrator should issue his ruling within about 2 weeks.

The arbitration only deals with LOA 91 which is part of the pilot contract. The results will only affect the pilots. It is my understanding that the flight attendants have their own legal counsel to protect their interests.

The arbitration is separate from the lawsuits and should have no bearing on it.

Once the lawsuit is released publically I'm sure a copy will be available. Of course you can always ask USA320 pilot about it - he probably has a copy. He seemed to have all the answers last week but has yet to respond to comments that refuted some of his claims.

 

[Light Years]

So the flight attendants may be successful in thier lawsuit (back pay etc), but thier jobs are gone to Republic forever? So the pilots might all go to Republic without the F/As if they win the arbitration.

 

[SoldWholeSale]

The pilots have contractual language which allows for the crews to go with the aircraft in the event there is a "change of control" transaction. The flight attendants may not?

SH

 

[Light Years]

The flight attendants don't have any language at all. The company uses the mainline contract, an outdated American Eagle one, and thier imagination wherever they see fit. They'll probably just produce the worst successorship language they can find and try and cram it into a contract after the fact.

I hope the pilots are successful, but it's sad to see the F/As shafted as usual. I think most of them were under the impression that "All or None" meant them as well.

 

[USA320Pilot]

MEC CODE-A-PHONE UPDATE - October 22, 2005

This is Jack Stephan with a US Airways MEC update for Saturday, October 22.

ALPA and your elected representatives continue to work diligently to protect the rights of all US Airways pilots, including MDA pilots. As a result, we are disappointed that 241 MDA pilots have brought a lawsuit against ALPA among other parties. We believe that their allegations are totally without merit, and we will vigorously defend your union against these claims. We will provide further updates on this litigation when available. This lawsuit is available under "What's New" on the pilots only home page. This is a large file, so we recommend that you right click on the link and save the file to view.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[Dorf]

MEC CODE-A-PHONE UPDATE - October 22, 2005

This is Jack Stephan with a US Airways MEC update for Saturday, October 22.

ALPA and your elected representatives continue to work diligently to protect the rights of all US Airways pilots, including MDA pilots. As a result, we are disappointed that 241 MDA pilots have brought a lawsuit against ALPA among other parties. We believe that their allegations are totally without merit, and we will vigorously defend your union against these claims. We will provide further updates on this litigation when available. This lawsuit is available under "What's New" on the pilots only home page. This is a large file, so we recommend that you right click on the link and save the file to view.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

It's amazing how "vigorously" they did not represent the pilots before the lawsuit! From my understanding from other boards, they only "represented" them when it was time to collect their dues money.

Dorf

 

[USA320Pilot]

PineyBob:

I understand ALPA's attorney's have studied the lawsuit and are now formulating their response. The union is going to use every legal resource possible in court and this will be a lengthy and time consuming process. Moreover, I anticipate US Airways, Wexford Capital, and Republic will take a similar approach too.

In regard to the number of MDA pilots that are the plaintiffs, I suspect the suit is more out of frustation at being furloughed again after all the excellent work they did to get the operation up and running.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[hp_fa]

PineyBob:

I understand ALPA's attorney's have studied the lawsuit and are now formulating their response.

I would hope so. They only have twenty days to do so once they were served the Complaint.

 

[hp_fa]

A vigorous defense of a lawsuit instead of a strategy of reaching a settlement usually means the Plantiff's case has merit because when the Plantiff has a strong case there is little incentive to settle. Leaving the defendants with little choice but to take their chances in court and drag the whole thing out.

Actually Bob, not true. If a plaintiff has a very strong case the last place the defense wants to be is in front of a jury. So, if the defendant(s) cannot spend the plaintiff into settlement during discovery, then there is another nice little rule the defendant(s) can use and that is called an offer of judgment. In the federal system a defendant may make an offer to allow a judgment to be taken against it for a specified amount of money plus costs accrued. If the offer is not accepted and the plaintiff fails to prevail for a greater sum at trial, the plaintiff must pay all costs of the offering defendant. That can be very, very expensive.

Think of a plaintiff who wants $100,000.00. At some point at least 10 days before trial the defendants decide to offer in an offer of judgment $40,000.00. Plaintiff says no. A jury only awards $35,000.00. The plaintiff must now pay all the defendants costs up to that point. (BTW, the term "costs" is defined legally as to what is included.)

 

[USA320Pilot]

PineyBob:

According to ALPA's Legal Counsel and provided by the MEC's communication chairman, "We believe that their (MDA pilot) allegations are totally without merit."

After hearing about the suit from professional's, I'm not very worried for ALPA or its members.

Regards,

USA320Pilot