A festering animosity between regional airline pilot groups and the Air Line Pilots Association showed no sign of subsiding last month, as nearly 300 Comair pilots asked to join a pending lawsuit against the union while pilots from US Airways subsidiary Allegheny Airlines picketed outside ALPA’s Washington headquarters. Both disputes stem from what the pilots call ALPA’s “predatory bargaining practices,” under which the interests of the union’s largest and most influential constituencies–namely the mainline pilots–supersede those of the regional pilot membership.

The lawsuit, filed last May by Comair Capt. Daniel Ford in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, seeks $1 million in damages and an end to the union’s alleged practice of allowing Delta Air Lines pilot leaders “to unilaterally and arbitrarily impose restrictions on the size and routes of Delta’s subsidiaries.” Organized by the Regional Jet Defense Coalition (RJDC), the lawsuit claims that ALPA’s interest in negotiating and enforcing a scope clause on behalf of Delta pilots conflicts with its obligation to its Delta Connection members.

Although he said ALPA has not met its obligation to represent all pilot groups fairly and equally, Ford stressed that the RJDC does not oppose scope clauses per se, and that the union could overcome its conflict of interests without dropping its representation of regional pilot groups. The issue, he said, remains the union’s disregard for duty of fair representation, a legal standard that protects minority interests within labor unions.

source: Pilot gripes over scope put ALPA on defensive | Aviation International News