The union that represents pilots at the Warren Buffett-controlled private jet company NetJets is suing the airline over allegations that senior managers have interfered with the union’s ability to communicate information about ongoing contract negotiations.
The NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots argues that it has a right to communicate with its 3,000-strong pilot membership, as well as members of the public and NetJets ‘owners’ and that federal law protects this right.
NetJets works under a shared ownership basis, or as it describes it, ‘fractional’ ownership, in which customers effectively become ‘owners’ to take advantage of NetJets’ private jet services.
The dispute centers around a public website which is run by the union and used to communicate their point of view in contract negotiations. The union claims NetJets recently threatened pilots with the threat of disciplinary proceedings if they promoted the website to the airline’s ‘owners’.
The website has, however, been in existence since at least 2014 and during the last contract negotiation process, NetJets didn’t apparently have an issue with its own pilots promoting GenuineQs.com – that’s because, the union argues, stopping pilots promoting the website is a violation of the Railway Labor Act which governs flight crew as well.
The union filed the lawsuit in an Ohio district court at the start of the week, seeking injunctive relief against NetJets, which is based in Columbus, Ohio and is a subsidiary of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway group.
The lawsuit argues that GenuineQs.com is a “resource for pilots, aircraft owners, and the public to obtain information about NJSAP’s positions, and is patently intended to win public support in the labor dispute.”.
NetJets and the union began midterm bargaining in February, and the union has encouraged pilots to refer ‘owners’ to the website should they ask about the state of negotiations.
But last month, NetJet’s chief operating officer penned an email to pilots suggesting that mentioning the GenuineQs.com website to ‘owners’ would breach the airline’s rules on communications – which include a ban on making negative comments about NetJets or using ‘casual language’ like descriving severe turbulence as “severe turbulence”.
The union feared that the email implied that pilots could face disciplinary proceedings if they promoted the website but an attempt to clarify the meaning of the email with NetJets went unanswered.
“Since the parties are engaged in midterm bargaining and the Union therefore lacks the right to strike, its appeals to aircraft owners and the public for support are critical to bargaining for better wages and benefits,” the lawsuit argues.
“Defendants’ (NetjJets) attempt to suppress speech thus strikes a fundamental blow to the Union’s ability to bargain collectively, and to the Union itself.”
The union is calling for an injunction to prevent NetJets from taking disciplinary action against pilots who promote the GenuineQs.com website – after this lawsuit, however, pilots probably won’t have much need to promote the website.
