Southwest has sued its mechanics' union, alleging that the
union is encouraging mechanics to write up aircraft maintenance issues that
have no impact on flight safety.
The strategy, Southwest alleges, is designed to improve the
bargaining position of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA),
whose members have been doing battle with the airline over a labor contract for
six years.
The systemwide campaign by AMFA, Southwest says in the suit
filed Thursday, violates the Railway Labor Act, which governs the sequence of
steps that airline unions must take during a collective bargaining process
before turning to disruptive actions.
The lawsuit comes as mechanics' maintenance write-ups have
forced Southwest to take more aircraft out of service over the past two weeks
than is typical, resulting in canceled flights. Southwest canceled 117 flights
on Thursday according to Flight Aware, more than any airline around the world that
Flight Aware tracks. By comparison, American, United and Delta canceled 34, 20
and seven flights, respectively.
Two weeks ago, Southwest declared an operational emergency
at maintenance bases in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Houston Hobby and Orlando due to
the number of out-of-service aircraft. The carrier added its Dallas Love Field
base to that list early last week.
In the lawsuit, Southwest says that it began experiencing a
surge in minor maintenance write-ups soon after a failed mediation session with
AMFA on Feb. 7 and Feb. 8. The carrier
describes such write-ups as ones that are for items that don't impact safety
and don't require immediate attention.
"For instance, the number of write-ups for minor
interior systems -- i.e., a missing row number on an airline that does not
assign seats -- spiked almost 400% to 500% after February 10, 2019," the
lawsuit says.
The carrier went on to say that on an average day it will
have 14 of its 752 aircraft out of service. From Feb. 11 to Feb. 22 the number
of out-of-service aircraft ranged from 30 to 62.
AMFA didn't immediately respond to an email for comment
Friday morning. However, in a Feb. 22 letter to chief Southwest legal and
regulatory officer Mark Shaw, which addresses allegations similar to those
Southwest made in the lawsuit, AMFA attorney Nick Granath accused the carrier's
management of having a "degraded maintenance safety culture."
"Let us be clear. AMFA members at Southwest Airlines
are doing their jobs in accordance with the requirements of their FAA-issued
A&P (aircraft mechanic) licenses," Granath wrote. "Southwest
Airlines should be thanking these men and women for their dedication to safety;
instead, it hurls unfounded accusations. AMFA rejects any assertions that it or
its members have acted in violation of law or collectively to disrupt company
operations or undertake any job actions. Southwest Airlines has provided no
evidence to AMFA in support of its baseless job action allegations."
Granath's allegations related to Southwest's safety culture
followed on the heels of a recent revelation that the FAA has been
investigating the carrier for the past year for miscalculations of the total
weight of checked luggage on Southwest flights. Such miscalculations have the
potential to cause safety problems since pilots rely upon them to compute
takeoff weights.
Southwest filed the case against AMFA in U.S. District Court
for the Northern District of Texas.