The threatened strike by Allegiant Air pilots, tabled last week by a federal judge, was again put on hold as their union and airline management tangled in court.
Teamsters Local 1224, which represents the aviators, agreed today not to go on strike until at least next Wednesday, when a court case pitting the union versus the company resumes.
The two sides met at 10 a.m. at the Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse in Las Vegas before U.S. District Judge Andrew Gordon, who was supposed to decide whether to prohibit the strike or allow the pilots to walk off the job.
Instead, the hearing, with some 40 to 50 Allegiant pilots in the audience but not in uniform, dragged on until about 5:30 p.m. with no answer in sight and the two sides entrenched against each other.
Lawyers tussled mostly over Allegiant's complex pilot-scheduling system, which the aviators say is less predictable than the old one, does not favor seniority as much as before, and was implemented by the Las Vegas-based discount airline in early 2014 without any input from the union.
No one shouted at anybody today, but it seemed the divide between Allegiant bosses and the union only grew.
The lawyers seemingly brought up the same arguments numerous times and veered off topic from today's potential court order, and an Allegiant executive got testy with the Teamsters' lead attorney while discussing the intricacies of the scheduling system on the witness stand. Before that, the attorneys met during the lunch break to discuss a possible agreement to avoid a strike, but they couldn't reach a deal.
By day's end, Gordon said to some light chuckles that "loaded guns" were "pointed at everyone in this courtroom."
Allegiant attorney Doug Hall, of the law firm Ford & Harrison in Washington, D.C., said afterward that there will be more testimony next week about the scheduling system. A witness is slated to testify about the company's "efforts to avoid having to come to court," he said, as well as "the harm" a strike would cause Allegiant.
Hall also said that he expected the main issue at hand — whether the pilots can strike — to be resolved today.
"It's not too uncommon," he said. "Sometimes these things don't get done quite as quickly as you'd like."
Local 1224 President Daniel Wells declined to comment after the hearing on what the union would do in court next week.
The union announced last Wednesday that Allegiant's pilots — who had voted in mid-January to authorize a strike — would walk off the job the next day. The strike would have canceled more than 250 flights that day alone, the union said, affecting some 33,000 passengers.
But just hours after they called the strike, U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro granted Allegiant a temporary restraining order against the Teamsters. She ordered the union and its members not to encourage or participate in “any strike, work stoppage, picketing, sick-out, slow-down, work-to-rule campaign” or other move to disrupt Allegiant’s regular operations.
Allegiant — known for its cheap fares, big menu of add-on fees and consistent profits — had sued the union in federal court a few days before. It alleged the "imminent" strike was illegal, would cost the airline millions of dollars per day, and would erode the airline’s standing with passengers, who “would certainly be less likely to fly Allegiant in the future."
The company shuttles leisure travelers from small, underserved cities to warm-weather vacation spots with almost no competition on its routes.
In its lawsuit last week, Allegiant said a walkout would be illegal because the Teamsters had not "exhausted" the lengthy list of dispute-resolution steps that must be taken before pilots can go on strike, as required by U.S. labor law for airlines.
The law, oddly the Railway Labor Act, makes it very difficult for pilots to strike, even allowing the White House to intervene and prevent a walkout. As a result, strikes rarely occur.
Allegiant pilots voted in August 2012 to join the Teamsters but still do not have a collective bargaining agreement under the union.
After joining the Teamsters, the pilots allege, Allegiant executives illegally scrapped and replaced existing medical benefits, seniority policies and other workplace rules. The Teamsters sued the company in November 2013 to restore the benefits while they negotiated a new collective-bargaining deal.
Last July, Judge Gordon ordered Allegiant to bring back certain benefits and policies but not everything the union had sought.
Allegiant appealed, but the case remains open.