Airline sues union, charging organized effort

Has your United flight been cancelled recently due to lack of a pilot? The airline last week filed a lawsuit against its pilots union, charging that the pilots are using a covert campaign of “organized sick leave abuse,” as well as a “public campaign of intimidation that discourages pilots from picking up additional flying,” i.e., agreeing to fly an extra trip to replace a “sick” pilot. United said the rate of sick leave this summer among some of its pilots is up as much as 103 percent, and that the incidence of replacement pilots taking extra trips has “dropped precipitously,” resulting in an increasing spike in the number of flight cancellations. The alleged tactic is reminiscent of a similar problem at United in the summer of 2000. United charged that the pilots are trying to reverse the airline’s plans to downsize and lay off pilots. The pilots’ union had no comment, but United’s Association of Flight Attendants blasted management for the lawsuit, referring to it as a “union-busting tactic” and “a corrupt attempt to distract workers and travelers of United Airlines from the failures of current executives.” The flight attendants said the lawsuit will only “further inflame an already poisonous labor relations atmosphere.”