American Air Urges Court to End ‘Devastating’ Labor Slowdown
The latest filing intensifies a standoff between the two sides after federal mediators suspended contract talks in April.
(Bloomberg) -- American Airlines Group Inc. persuaded a federal judge to temporarily block an alleged work slowdown by mechanics that the carrier says has become “devastating” to its operations.
American sought the order three weeks after asking for a temporary injunction against the TWU-IAM Association, which represents more than 30,000 mechanics, baggage handlers and other airport ramp workers. A July 1 trial set in the case isn’t soon enough, the carrier said Friday. A judge in Fort Worth, Texas, granted the airline’s request for a temporary restraining order late Friday afternoon.
American had asked the court to order the union and its members to stop slowing aircraft repairs or other work and to stop refusing overtime or assignments away from their normal location.
The union’s “illegal conduct has dramatically escalated and has become devastating to the airline’s operations, customers and employees,” American said in the court filing. Union members “have dramatically expanded their illegal slowdown activities, and are creating an operational crisis causing significant damage to American, the traveling public and American’s employees.”
The latest filing intensifies a standoff between the two sides after federal mediators suspended contract talks in April, saying they didn’t see a way to resolve differences. TWU-IAM is the only major union at American that still lacks a unified contract following the carrier’s merger with US Airways in 2013.
TWU-IAM didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Passengers Affected
The slowdown has forced American to cancel 722 flights in the 23 days since it filed the original lawsuit last month, the airline said. The number of affected passengers has escalated to 11,000 daily, or more than 175,000 since the original May 20 filing, it said.
Union members are violating the Railway Labor Act with the alleged slowdown, American said. The law, which governs airline labor relations, requires both sides to maintain the status quo during contract negotiations.
The labor group and airline haven’t been able to agree on issues like compensation, health and retirement benefits and limits on outsourcing work. They began talks in late 2015.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at maryc.s@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Susan Warren, Tony Robinson
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