November 7, 2005
US Airways Mechanic and Related Collective Bargaining Agreement Update
“Teamsters’ Misrepresentationsâ€
The Teamsters have been feeding misinformation to US Airways’ mechanics and related employees in a desperate attempt to collect enough authorization cards to force an election with the IAM after the National Mediation Board (“NMBâ€) rules that the combined US Airways and America West constitute a single transportation system or “single carrier.â€
The Teamsters’ latest tactic has been to distribute a court decision that arose in an entirely different situation than that faced by US Airways and America West mechanics today. In that case (AFA v. USAir), AFA sought to extinguish the TWU contract and apply its own USAir mainline contract to Shuttle flight attendants who had been represented by TWU before the NMB determined that USAir and Shuttle were a single carrier. The court, however, agreed with USAir that the TWU-Shuttle agreement survived the change in representation to AFA as a result of the single carrier determination.
The AFA case did not involve a carrier emerging from bankruptcy. Under bankruptcy law, a collective bargaining agreement cannot be modified after a company emerges from bankruptcy unless the company files a new Chapter 11 case.
In the AFA case the TWU-Shuttle contract was not amendable as the IBT-America West contract is in this case. Rather, when the AFA filed its lawsuit, it had been negotiating changes to its own agreement with USAir for nearly three years and did not conclude those negotiations for another six months.
The real holding of the AFA case is that “collective bargaining agreements survive a change in representative.†That has consistently been the policy of the NMB since the Railway Labor Act (“RLAâ€) was enacted. In its first annual report in 1935, the NMB wrote that “a change in representative does not alter or cancel any existing agreement made on behalf of the employees by their previous representatives.â€
The Teamsters’ misrepresentations put your contract and your future at risk. If there is a representation election for US Airways’ mechanics and related employees and fewer than 50 percent of all active and furloughed employees of US Airways and America West cast ballots, there will be no union representative and no contract, and the carrier will be able to impose any terms it wants.
Sincerely and fraternally,
William O’Driscoll
President and Directing General Chairman
US Airways Mechanic and Related Collective Bargaining Agreement Update
“Teamsters’ Misrepresentationsâ€
The Teamsters have been feeding misinformation to US Airways’ mechanics and related employees in a desperate attempt to collect enough authorization cards to force an election with the IAM after the National Mediation Board (“NMBâ€) rules that the combined US Airways and America West constitute a single transportation system or “single carrier.â€
The Teamsters’ latest tactic has been to distribute a court decision that arose in an entirely different situation than that faced by US Airways and America West mechanics today. In that case (AFA v. USAir), AFA sought to extinguish the TWU contract and apply its own USAir mainline contract to Shuttle flight attendants who had been represented by TWU before the NMB determined that USAir and Shuttle were a single carrier. The court, however, agreed with USAir that the TWU-Shuttle agreement survived the change in representation to AFA as a result of the single carrier determination.
The AFA case did not involve a carrier emerging from bankruptcy. Under bankruptcy law, a collective bargaining agreement cannot be modified after a company emerges from bankruptcy unless the company files a new Chapter 11 case.
In the AFA case the TWU-Shuttle contract was not amendable as the IBT-America West contract is in this case. Rather, when the AFA filed its lawsuit, it had been negotiating changes to its own agreement with USAir for nearly three years and did not conclude those negotiations for another six months.
The real holding of the AFA case is that “collective bargaining agreements survive a change in representative.†That has consistently been the policy of the NMB since the Railway Labor Act (“RLAâ€) was enacted. In its first annual report in 1935, the NMB wrote that “a change in representative does not alter or cancel any existing agreement made on behalf of the employees by their previous representatives.â€
The Teamsters’ misrepresentations put your contract and your future at risk. If there is a representation election for US Airways’ mechanics and related employees and fewer than 50 percent of all active and furloughed employees of US Airways and America West cast ballots, there will be no union representative and no contract, and the carrier will be able to impose any terms it wants.
Sincerely and fraternally,
William O’Driscoll
President and Directing General Chairman
