Teamsters File Suit Against Allegiant Air | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.22.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.16.24

Airborne-FlightTraining-04.17.24 Airborne-AffordableFlyers-04.18.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.19.24

Join Us At 0900ET, Friday, 4/10, for the LIVE Morning Brief.
Watch It LIVE at
www.airborne-live.net

Thu, Nov 21, 2013

Teamsters File Suit Against Allegiant Air

Alleges Airline Is In Violation Of The Railway Labor Act Governing Work Rules

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division and Teamsters Local 1224 filed a lawsuit against Allegiant Air November 15 in the federal district court in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The lawsuit alleges that Allegiant Air is violating the Railway Labor Act by disregarding many of the provisions and protections contained in the Work Rules Agreement negotiated by Allegiant Air and AAPAG, the former independent union representing the pilots of Allegiant Air.

"Filing a federal lawsuit against Allegiant Air is not something we take pleasure in doing," said Local 1224 President Daniel C. Wells. "It was a difficult decision and it is unfortunate that it had to come to this. However, when an employer simply chooses to ignore negotiated work rules as a daily practice, sometimes the only recourse a labor union has in defending the rights of an employee group is to file a lawsuit." 

Allegiant Air's decision to unilaterally implement a preferential bid system, in violation of the existing scheduling rules, is one of the matters raised in the lawsuit. The pilots' union contends that this is just the latest example in a long list of Allegiant Air's disregard of the negotiated agreement that was reached with AAPAG. "Allegiant Air and its top management have broken faith with their pilots; reaching agreements with the pilots and then violating those commitments at the first opportunity," added Wells. "The company's violation of current scheduling rules is a good case in point."

Every carrier in the industry, including Allegiant Air, has known for nearly 18 months that it would be required to comply with new pilot fatigue rules beginning this January. Unlike other carriers whose pilots are represented by Teamsters Local 1224, though, Allegiant Air waited until this past summer to begin formulating a plan to comply with the new safety rules. The delayed response to the mandate created a false crisis which has been used as rationale to disregard the agreement held with the pilots.

From the union's perspective, Allegiant Air has wasted a substantial amount of time and money. As the union pointed out in its comprehensive scheduling proposal, Allegiant Air can comply with the new safety rules without violating its scheduling agreement with the pilots; it has just chosen not to honor its commitment.

"Allegiant Air's habit of breaking its commitments is not just bad business; but is a violation of the federal law," said Local 1224 Chief Counsel Ed Gleason.

Other alleged violations referenced in the lawsuit are Allegiant Air's practice to cease pay-protecting pilots to attend and participate in safety initiatives such as the ASAP program and Flight Standards Review Board, making participation in these programs a burden for the individual pilot; and a change in the pilot's loss of medical program causing a hardship for pilots who are unable to fly due to medical conditions.

The Airline Professionals Association Teamsters Local 1224 is affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division and represents nearly 4000 members among ten air carriers that operate both passenger and cargo aircraft.  Local 1224 is the certified bargaining unit that represents all flight crew members employed by ABX Air, Inc., Allegiant Air, Atlas Air, Inc., Brendan Airways, LLC, Horizon Air Industries, Inc., Hyannis Air Services, Inc., Kalitta Air, LLC, Miami Air International, Omni Air International, Silver Airways Corporation, and Southern Air, Inc.

FMI: www.ibt1224.org

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (04.24.24): Runway Lead-in Light System

Runway Lead-in Light System Runway Lead-in Light System Consists of one or more series of flashing lights installed at or near ground level that provides positive visual guidance a>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.24.24)

Aero Linx: Aviation Without Borders Aviation Without Borders uses its aviation expertise, contacts and partnerships to enable support for children and their families – at hom>[...]

Aero-FAQ: Dave Juwel's Aviation Marketing Stories -- ITBOA BNITBOB

Dave Juwel's Aviation Marketing Stories ITBOA BNITBOB ... what does that mean? It's not gibberish, it's a lengthy acronym for "In The Business Of Aviation ... But Not In The Busine>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Best Seat in The House -- 'Inside' The AeroShell Aerobatic Team

From 2010 (YouTube Version): Yeah.... This IS A Really Cool Job When ANN's Nathan Cremisino took over the lead of our Aero-TV teams, he knew he was in for some extra work and a lot>[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 04.18.24: CarbonCub UL, Fisher, Affordable Flyer Expo

Also: Junkers A50 Heritage, Montaer Grows, Dynon-Advance Flight Systems, Vans' Latest Officially, the Carbon Cub UL and Rotax 916 iS is now in its 'market survey development phase'>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC