Delta Denied Pilots Injunction

A T L A N T A, Dec. 11 -- A federal judge today denied Delta Air Lines’request for an injunction against pilots who have declined to workovertime.

U.S. District Judge Willis Hunt Jr., said Delta had not providedenough evidence in its lawsuit against the pilots’ union, the AirLine Pilots Association, to show the union had coordinated acampaign against overtime.

While Delta concedes that all overtime flights are voluntary,the airline filed suit Dec. 5 against the union seeking an order tomake pilots restore the “status quo” in their overtime requests.

Delta Considers AppealThe company says pilots are refusing overtime shifts to expresstheir displeasure with the company’s contract proposal, which seeksto tie future raises to the company’s financial performance.

Delta and its 9,800 pilots have been in contract talks sinceSeptember 1999.

Delta said it was disappointed by Hunt’s ruling and that itmight appeal. In a news release, the Atlanta-based company saidpilots should “consider the harm to our customers this job actionis causing and to resume their typical practices.”

The pilots union did not immediately return calls seekingcomment.

Pilots Could Be Liable Last month, Delta said it scrubbed 375 flights because of crewshortages. The company has refused to say how many average dailyflights are being canceled because of the labor unrest.

In its suit against the pilots, Delta named 49 individual pilotsin the suit. But Hunt wrote in his decision that “Delta has not inany form or fashion proven with any specificity the roles theseindividuals played in the overtime ban.”

The judge also said that nothing in his order should be read toprevent Delta, the nation’s third-largest carrier, from refilingits request if the situation changes.

The judge also warned that his order did not “absolve ALPAmembership from liability,” saying the court found evidence ofviolations of the Railway Labor Act, which prohibits job actions byairline and railroad employees.

Only a fraction of pilots ever fly overtime. But because of thescheduling difficulties, the carrier has begun trimming about 3percent to 5 percent — 100 to 125 flights — from its daily2,700-flight schedule.

Delta believed a restraining order would stop pilots fromorganizing what Delta terms an “illegal job action.”