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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 24, 1998
4:49 PM
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CONTACT: Public Citizen
Booth Gunter
(202) 588-7741
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Pilots
Win Free Speech Suit
American Airlines Accepts Rules Protecting Dissident Communication
in the Workplace
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WASHINGTON
- June 24 -- In response to an unprecedented
decision upholding the free speech rights of airline employees, American Airlines has
conceded its pilots' rights to criticize their union and employer in the workplace.
According to Paul Alan Levy of Public Citizen Litigation Group, who represented the
individual pilots who brought the case, "This settlement brings American Airlines
into line with the free speech rules that workers in most private sector workplaces enjoy
under the National Labor Relations Act, while guaranteeing an enforcement procedure that
is far more swift and certain than the NLRB."
Under rules adopted in the settlement of a lawsuit today, pilots must be allowed to
distribute leaflets in the airlines operations areas at every airport that American
serves. The pilots agreed to limit their free speech activities to locations that
will not disrupt safe and efficient operations, while American pledged that even if one
pilot abuses his free speech rights that will not excuse denying free speech to all other
employees.
The rules also provide expedited arbitration, similar to a TRO (temporary restraining
order) proceeding in court if speech rights are denied during union elections or
ratification votes, or if it is even claimed that a group of pilots are being denied the
right to speak. Departing from the usual labor law rule that only a union can go to
arbitration, any pilot whose rights are denied may invoke expedited arbitration.
The case arose during a 1997 referendum conducted by the Allied Pilots Association (APA)
over ratification of a collective bargaining agreement for American's 9,000 pilots.
After a proposed contract was voted down by a large margin, dissident pilots began
an intense campaign to defeat a second proposal. In response, the airline, alleging that a
few pilots at Chicago's O'Hare Airport had been disruptive, issued an order forbidding any
pilots at any airport from discussing the proposed contract. Candidates for union office
associated with the anti-ratification campaign were also denied the right to campaign at
work.
Four of the pilots who had been denied the right to speak filed suit against American in
the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The suit alleged that
American had interfered with their union activities and with the collective bargaining
process in violation of the Railway Labor Act, which governs labor relations in the
airline industry. They argued that the rules that govern workers' right to speak to each
other in most private workplaces, as applied under the Wagner Act, should apply to airline
workers as well. The APA intervened to support the individual plaintiffs' claims.
In a precedent-making decision on May 21, 1998, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina
refused American's request that the case be dismissed. He agreed with the pilots
that the Railway Labor Act protects workers' rights even after a union is certified to
represent them, and that claims under the statute may be pursued in court, not exclusively
under the union contract. He set the case down for trial of whether the airline had
discriminated against the pilots' union activities but urged the parties to try to settle
the case.
The parties then began intensive negotiations, with the assistance of D.C.-based mediator
Linda R. Singer, Esquire, of ADR Associates, leading to the agreement that was announced
today. Copies of the agreed rules and enforcement procedure, as well as statements
from the four individual plaintiffs, are attached. Copies of Judge Urbina's decision
are also available on request.
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