Alteon Union Sues Boeing Over Layoffs
07-13-2009, 05:45 PM
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Alteon Union Sues Boeing Over Layoffs
From Seattle PI:
The union representing Boeing's instructor pilots -- that is, the pilots who teach customers how to use the aircraft -- has sued the company in advance of pilot layoffs on July 24.
The Airline Manufacturing Pilots Association charges that Boeing's plan to lay off 10 union pilots is a violation of the pilots' union contract. Boeing will continue to employ contract pilots, known as "simulator-only instructors," even while laying off its permanent workers, the union says in a lawsuit filed in federal court.
In May, Boeing told 10 union pilots that they may be laid off on July 24. The notification was part of a larger company effort to cut 10,000 positions this year.
The pilots' lawsuit seeks to stop Boeing from going ahead with the layoff without first going through arbitration.
Boeing counters that the pilots have to wait until after they are laid off to complain.
"No AMPA pilots have been laid off," Boeing wrote in a response to the court. "It remains likely that some of the original 10 will be laid off on July 24, but how many and whom cannot be determined at this time."
Boeing charges that "the union . . . is not content to follow the contractual grievance and arbitration process. Instead, it has sought to short-circuit that process by means of an anticipatory grievance, which challenges the notices in advance of any actual layoff."
The union contract states that laid off employees may challenge the job loss by filing a written grievance "within 10 workdays after the date of such layoff."
Boeing employs 242 pilots, including 127 based in the Puget Sound region. The union represents a unit that includes 50 such pilots, who all work at Boeing's Longacres site in Renton.
The union pilots work for Boeing subsidiary Alteon, which provides training to Boeing Commercial Airplane's customers. Alteon pilots are deployed worldwide.
Boeing says that it's laying off its simulator pilots, too. Since October 2008, Boeing has reduced its simulator instructor workforce, including Boeing employees and contractors, from 64 to 45. Five more simulator instructor positions, including the last remaining contractors, will be eliminated by July 24, Boeing says in its response.
"Periodic mass layoffs are an expected fact of life for almost all Boeing employees, particularly early in their Boeing careers, when their seniority is relatively low," the company said, citing the cyclical nature of the commercial aircraft business.
Boeing also says that the union pilots pegged for layoff each have less than two year's experience with the company and one of the 10 has already found new work on another Boeing assignment. Two other union pilots have had their layoff notices extended; still two others are starting military leave in July and a third plans to return to the military, Boeing said, indicating that not all 10 of the workers who received layoff notices will in fact be laid off.
The union charges that Boeing has not cooperated with its requests for information, and that if Boeing is allowed to lay off the pilots as planned, the union's "grievance will not be resolved by an impartial arbitrator until many months after" the layoff date, and that doing so would "inflict both serious and irreparable injury upon those AMPA-represented employees."
Instructor pilots sue Boeing over possible layoffs
The union representing Boeing's instructor pilots -- that is, the pilots who teach customers how to use the aircraft -- has sued the company in advance of pilot layoffs on July 24.
The Airline Manufacturing Pilots Association charges that Boeing's plan to lay off 10 union pilots is a violation of the pilots' union contract. Boeing will continue to employ contract pilots, known as "simulator-only instructors," even while laying off its permanent workers, the union says in a lawsuit filed in federal court.
Read the documents: Complaint and response
In May, Boeing told 10 union pilots that they may be laid off on July 24. The notification was part of a larger company effort to cut 10,000 positions this year.
The pilots' lawsuit seeks to stop Boeing from going ahead with the layoff without first going through arbitration.
Boeing counters that the pilots have to wait until after they are laid off to complain.
"No AMPA pilots have been laid off," Boeing wrote in a response to the court. "It remains likely that some of the original 10 will be laid off on July 24, but how many and whom cannot be determined at this time."
Boeing charges that "the union . . . is not content to follow the contractual grievance and arbitration process. Instead, it has sought to short-circuit that process by means of an anticipatory grievance, which challenges the notices in advance of any actual layoff."
The union contract states that laid off employees may challenge the job loss by filing a written grievance "within 10 workdays after the date of such layoff."
Boeing employs 242 pilots, including 127 based in the Puget Sound region. The union represents a unit that includes 50 such pilots, who all work at Boeing's Longacres site in Renton.
The union pilots work for Boeing subsidiary Alteon, which provides training to Boeing Commercial Airplane's customers. Alteon pilots are deployed worldwide.
Boeing says that it's laying off its simulator pilots, too. Since October 2008, Boeing has reduced its simulator instructor workforce, including Boeing employees and contractors, from 64 to 45. Five more simulator instructor positions, including the last remaining contractors, will be eliminated by July 24, Boeing says in its response.
"Periodic mass layoffs are an expected fact of life for almost all Boeing employees, particularly early in their Boeing careers, when their seniority is relatively low," the company said, citing the cyclical nature of the commercial aircraft business.
Boeing also says that the union pilots pegged for layoff each have less than two year's experience with the company and one of the 10 has already found new work on another Boeing assignment. Two other union pilots have had their layoff notices extended; still two others are starting military leave in July and a third plans to return to the military, Boeing said, indicating that not all 10 of the workers who received layoff notices will in fact be laid off.
The union charges that Boeing has not cooperated with its requests for information, and that if Boeing is allowed to lay off the pilots as planned, the union's "grievance will not be resolved by an impartial arbitrator until many months after" the layoff date, and that doing so would "inflict both serious and irreparable injury upon those AMPA-represented employees."
Instructor pilots sue Boeing over possible layoffs
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