Originally Posted by
Mozam
SWAPA has no say on what goes on here or FB. They do monitor, and take action on the union fourm . SWAPA has no culpability of what goes on with APC.
Thats not how the court has seen it in past cases involving pilots who engaged in some sort of concerted action. Regardless of whether or not the union officially or unofficially backed the action, the courts held the union (and sometimes individual pilots) responsible for the breach in status quo.
That is, for example, what happened when a bunch of Spirit pilots, engaged in a campaign to, among other things, stop picking up open time back in May 2017. Spirit’s attorneys used 2.5 pages of quotes from APC as part of their evidence to prove that a concerted action was going on. The court held the Spirit MEC responsible despite the fact that the MEC hadn’t (officially, at least) encouraged any pilot to engage in a concerted action. This harmed the Spirit pilots’ position in mediation at the time. It also risked incurring a crippling fine like
the $45 million fine that APA was hit with back in 1999 for a sick-out campaign by its pilots. Here’s what the court said:
IT IS ORDERED that the Defendants, and each of them, their members, agents, and
employees, and all persons and organizations acting by, in concert with, through, or under them, or by and through its or their orders, are hereby temporarily restrained, pending a hearing on the PI in this matter, from calling, permitting, instigating, authorizing, encouraging, participating in, approving, or continuing any form of interference with Plaintiff’s airline operations, including, but not limited to, any strike, work stoppage, sick-out, slowdown, work to rule campaign, concerted refusal to accept voluntary or overtime flight assignments, or other concerted refusal to perform normal pilot operations consistent with the status quo, including but not limited to, slow taxiing, writing up maintenance items, calling in fatigued, delaying flights, refusing to answer a call from the scheduling, refusing to fly an aircraft that meets legal requirements for flight, or refusing to accept voluntary or overtime flying, in violation of the RLA, 45 U.S.C. §151 et seq.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendants shall take all reasonable steps within their power to prevent the aforesaid actions and to immediately cease the aforesaid actions from
continuing if commenced, including, but not limited to, the following:
(a) Instructing all pilots represented by Defendant ALPA, and employed by Plaintiff, to resume their normal working schedule and practices and providing Plaintiff a copy of all such instructions;
(b) Notifying all pilots represented by Defendant ALPA, and employed by Plaintiff, by the most expeditious means possible, of the issuance, contents, and meaning of this TRO and
providing Plaintiff a copy of all such notices;
(c) Including in such notice a directive from ALPA to Spirit’s pilots not to engage in a concerted refusal to perform normal pilot operations consistent with the status quo, including t not limited to: slow taxiing, writing up maintenance items, calling in fatigued, delaying flights, refusing to answer a call from the scheduling, refusing to fly an aircraft that meets legal requirements for flight, refusing to accept voluntary or overtime flying (“open time” or “junior assignment”), or otherwise engaging in a concerted refusal to conduct pilot operations in the normal manner, and to cease and desist all such activity; and to cease and desist all exhortations or communications encouraging same; and failure to follow this directive may result in fine, suspension, or other sanction by ALPA;
(d) Posting the notice described above on Defendants’ internet websites and social
media accounts and providing Plaintiff a copy of the notices;
(e) Including the contents of such notice on all recorded telephone hotlines under
control of Defendants, until such time as the Court has ruled upon Plaintiff’s Motion for a PI,
and providing Plaintiff a copy of all such messages; and
(f) Distributing the contents of such notice through all non-public communication
systems maintained by Defendants, including any telephone trees, pilot-to-pilot communication
systems, or similar systems, and providing Plaintiff a copy of the notices.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that by 5 p.m. on May 10, 2017, Defendants must file sworn affidavits describing the methods used to effect the notice described above to all pilots
represented by Defendant ALPA; Defendants must also file copies of all notices required to be
furnished to Plaintiff by Defendants under this TRO.