Originally Posted by
WheelInTheBack
How is refusing to pick up voluntary open time while still conducting the normal requirements of the job considered an illegal job action? Or discussing a pilot’s value publicly? That’s a genuine question, I legitimately don’t know. There is no requirement for a certain amount of overtime to be picked up. Either the employer ponies up with pay that makes the overtime worth it to pick up or they pony up by hiring more reserves to cover the trips they agreed to cover for their partners. Pilots are in high demand. When something is in demand it costs more. And pilots should know their worth. If they want to sell themselves short that’s their business I guess. But I still would like to know how it can be illegal when it’s voluntary work we’re talking about.
Since you stated “genuine question, I’ll assume you haven’t heard of the Delta 49 from back in 2000.
“
We believe these pilots are associated with the concerted action and have engaged in acts of encouragement to other pilots to decline overtime as a means of pressuring the company," said Mullin…” (Leo Mullin, then CEO of Delta)
So yes, courts of law in the past have determined that is in an illegal job action for a line pilot to recommend / imply, etc that other pilots stop picking up overtime, or green slips, or what ever your airline calls it, just because they are in contact negotiations. That’s because it is a violation of the status quo and status quo is required to be maintained after the amendable date of the contact has passed.