In 2012 American Airlines pilots decided that CEO Tom Horton had to go, and that played a part in why US Airways was able to take over the airline while inside of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
They even engaged in a sick out but with a ‘wink wink, nudge nudge’ rather than putting it in writing. They’d learned their lesson thirteen years prior.
In 1999 when American acquired Reno Air, pilots engaged in a job action. It’s illegal to do this without being released from negotiations by a federal mediator under the Railway Labor Act. American went to court and got an injunction, but it continued, and then the airline obtained a judgment against the pilots union for over $40 million — representing the airline’s losses due to the sickout from the time the injunction was issued until the sick out ended.
The judgment was upheld by a federal appeals court, the union appealed to the Supreme Court which declined to hear the case. The judgment was for an amount greater than the assets of the union. Ultimately American forgave an unpaid $26 million of the judgment as part of its 2003 pilots’ contract.
Now it seems that American’s pilots are back it, forcing the union to do damage control:
APA leadership reiterated today that a recent text message purportedly sent on behalf of the Negotiating Committee was not a sanctioned APA communication and should be disregarded.
As we continue our efforts to reach a new agreement with management, there may be some pilots who believe they can strengthen our position at the table by engaging in unsanctioned behavior to affect the airline’s operation. That is not the case. Not only can such unsanctioned behavior disrupt our efforts at the bargaining table, it also places our pilots and APA in legal jeopardy.
Now is not the time for rogue actors to be attempting to create a situation that will be counterproductive to our collective efforts to achieve a new contract, and your APA leadership does not encourage or condone such behavior.
In summer 2019 mechanics engaged in an illegal job action and obliterated the carrier’s reliability. Pilots have even greater power to disrupt an operation. They can call in sick in large numbers. They can come up with reasons not to fly, or slow down their flying. Some things they can do:
- Calling for maintenance to check out items of ‘concern’ that aren’t in fact problems
- Refusing aircraft with minor maintenance issues
- Not working overtime
- Not answering the phone when the airline calls to come in on an unscheduled day
- Taxiing slowly, taking up as much time as possible
Together with a pilot shortage, this gives pilots tremendous leverage. However they cannot put in writing anything they’re doing to undermine the airline to pressure them into contract concessions.
The pilot union has taken a strike authorization vote, but isn’t legally permitted to strike because they haven’t received federal permission to do so (and that would only come after a 30 day ‘cooling off period’). Pilots are getting frustrated over the time it is taking to get to a contract, though the airline has publicly committed to substantial raises.
Some pilots do not want to wait, and are suggesting taking matters into their own hands. The mistake they’re making, though, is putting this in writing – and the union, therefore, has taken steps to disavow it.
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May 16, 2023 at 04:04AM
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Some American Airlines Pilots Organizing Illegal Job Action To Hurt The Company - View from the Wing
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