United wins court order blocking pilot slowdown
United Airlines, the third-biggest U.S. carrier, won a federal court order barring its pilots union from supporting a work slowdown that forced cancellation of hundreds of flights.
United, a unit of UAL Corp., announced the ruling by U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow in Chicago today. The airline initially sought a temporary injunction against the Air Line Pilots Association and four individuals in July, claiming the workers' refusal to volunteer for additional flying caused it to cancel 329 flights, affecting 36,000 passengers.
The union's e-mails, telephone messages and other communications to members to strictly abide by its contract ``were intended by ALPA and, likewise, understood by United pilots to signal that ALPA's members should engage in conduct that would increase flight delays and cancellations, as well as the airline's operating costs,'' Lefkow said in the order.
The dispute arose as the pilots sought a new contract with United, and Lefkow agreed with the carrier's claims that the union ``plainly encouraged'' its members to engage in a slowdown toward that end. The current contract, which runs to December 2009, was negotiated when UAL was in bankruptcy.
A spokesman for the union, which represents 6,500 United pilots, didn't immediately respond to e-mail and telephone messages seeking comment.
``Deliberate actions that unfairly or unlawfully impact our customers and employees -- and that keep us from achieving our full potential -- will not go unchallenged,'' United Chief Operating Officer John Tague told employees in a message today.
The airline will seek a permanent injunction against the union, said Jean Medina, a United spokeswoman.
Steve Wallach, chairman of the union at United, testified in a seven-day hearing that a rising number of sick calls between May 31 and Aug. 1 was ``an act of spontaneous combustion'' and ``purely a coincidence,'' not a union-backed effort.
UAL rose 5 cents to $10.74 at 10:19 a.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading.