nwa757

ALPA Defeats Pinnacle Management in Arbitration

An arbitrator has ruled that Pinnacle Airlines Corp. and Pinnacle Airlines, Inc., functioned as alter egos to sidestep the Pinnacle pilots’ contract. The pilots won a significant victory when the arbitrator ruled that management had violated the pilots’ contractual rights when it refused to meet and discuss labor protection issues with them after Pinnacle Corp. bought Colgan Air in early 2007.

Pinnacle Airlines, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. The arbitrator found that PNCL and PAI were alter egos functioning as a single employer at the time of the Colgan purchase. Relying on separate corporate structures, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. alleged that it was not legally bound by the contract that the pilots had signed with Pinnacle Airlines, Inc.

“Our pilots knew that Pinnacle management was playing games—we simply built the case,” says Capt. John Prater, ALPA's president. “This victory shows the strength of a resourceful union—we put a lot of manpower behind this pilot group, and they came out of this arbitration with another win.”

“This is a major victory for us,” says Capt. Scott Erickson, the Pinnacle MEC chairman. “The arbitrator recognized the corporate shell game this management has been trying to play and saw through its pathetic attempt to create an alter ego company to sidestep the legally binding contract it signed with us in 1999.”
The arbitrator ruled that Pinnacle’s “consistent failure to distinguish between the two corporate entities provides persuasive evidence that Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (PNCL) and Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. (PAI) were alter egos functioning as a single employer at the time of PNCL's acquisition of Colgan,” and concluded, “… because PNCL and PAI were alter egos functioning as a single employer when PNCL acquired Colgan …” the company violated the labor protection section of the collective bargaining agreement with the pilots.

“We are very pleased with the arbitrator’s recognition that Pinnacle violated our contract when they refused to negotiate with us after buying Colgan Air,” Erickson said. “We hope this ruling puts an end to managements’ continued quest to deny us our contractual rights, prompting it to negotiate a contract that adequately compensates us for our dedication and sacrifice to this airline.”

The Pinnacle pilots began collective bargaining with management under Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act in February 2005, and the agreement under which the pilots currently work became amendable in May 2005. Thus, Pinnacle pilots and management have been in contract negotiations for more than 3 years. A mediator assigned by the National Mediation Board has been involved in the process since fall 2006.

Based in Memphis, Pinnacle Airlines operates as Northwest Airlink and Delta Connection and flies more than 130 modern jet aircraft, including the newest addition to their fleet, the CRJ-900, which is operated under the Delta Connection livery.

So what does this mean next? A pretty big issue, did I miss the thread? I'd like to see Colgan guys get ALPA (needed badly). Maybe you guys can get some appropriate pay rates and work rules. Undercutting other CAL regionals isn't cool, either is another airline buying equipment for you...