Some Were Off The Job For More Than A Decade

In the aftermath of 9/11, nearly 3,000 American Airlines pilots were placed on furlough as the airline industry struggled to recover from the terrorist attacks. The last of those pilots were invited to return to work in 2013.

Now, the Allied Pilots Association is calling on the airline to credit those workers for the time they were involuntarily on the sidelines when calculating seniority for pilots.

APA has made the issue a top priority in negotiations with American, according to a report from the Dallas Morning News. American is reported to be open to discussing the issue, but says it may not be addressed until the pilot's contract is open for amendment. Those negotiations will not begin until 2020.

American spokesman Matt Miller told the paper that they know that many AA employees "went through a lot in the decade leading up to the merger" with US Airways. “Length of service is a contractual item that was negotiated as American and APA worked toward the current joint collective bargaining agreement. Regardless, we recognize it’s an important issue for many of our pilots, so it’s something we are happy to discuss with APA during future negotiations,” Miller said.

American recently granted mid-contract pay increases to flight attendants and pilots, which led to the request for the length of service discussions.

Pilots were allowed to work for other airlines while they were on furlough for AA, but that time did not count towards their seniority with the legacy carrier. Delta and United have already reached agreements with their pilots for length of service, according to the report.

(Image from file)

FMI: Original Report