Release #04.041
September 23, 2004

CONCORD, N.H.— The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) on Sept. 20 obtained a temporary restraining order in U.S. District Court, requiring Pan American Airways (Pan Am) and its controlling affiliate Guilford Transportation Industries (Guilford) to maintain the operations of Pan Am and its relationship with ALPA, in the face of management’s efforts to transfer both flying and aircraft from unionized Pan Am to its non-union subsidiary, Boston-Maine Airways (Boston-Maine).

This restraining order prohibits the Guilford defendants from closing or otherwise changing the operations of Pan Am while the court reviews a U.S. magistrate judge’s Sept. 17 Report and Recommendation. The magistrate judge had recommended that the district judge enjoin Guilford and its two airline affiliates from committing further serious violations of the Railway Labor Act (RLA), the legislation that governs labor relations at U.S.-based airlines and railroad companies.

ALPA requested this restraining order to ensure that the U.S. District Court would have the opportunity to implement the Magistrate Judge’s recommendations for an injunction after the Guilford defendants announced their intentions to shut down Pan Am permanently by the end of October 2004.

On Sept. 1, ALPA filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court in New Hampshire, asserting that the managements of Guilford, Pan Am, and Boston-Maine were engaged in an unlawful scheme to have non-union Boston-Maine take over all of Pan Am’s Boeing-727 flying.

"ALPA believes that the defendants have implemented this union-busting strategy to sidestep the provisions of the Pan Am-ALPA collective bargaining agreement and to unseat ALPA as the representative of Pan Am pilots," said ALPA President Capt. Duane E. Woerth.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James Muirhead agreed with ALPA’s position. He issued a 32-page Report and Recommendation on Sept. 17, concluding that the Guilford defendants violated the RLA’s status quo and the union interference provisions, and he recommended that an injunction be entered restoring the Pan Am pilots’ pay and working conditions and prohibiting the Guilford defendants from transferring aircraft or flying from Pan Am to Boston-Maine.

On Sept. 20, U.S. District Judge Joseph DiClerico issued an interim order directing Guilford and its two air carriers to maintain the status quo in their "relationship" with ALPA and the Pan Am pilots, and to otherwise maintain "operations" as they existed on Sept. 17, until the District Court can rule on Judge Muirhead’s findings and recommendations.

The Guilford defendants now have until Oct. 4 to file an objection to the Report and Recommendation with Judge DiClerico. ALPA has the option of filing a response to any objections they raise.

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing 64,000 pilots at 43 airlines in the United States and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org.

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ALPA Contact: John Perkinson, 703-481-4440 or media@alpa.org