Court Sends Flight Options/Flexjet To Negotiation Table

A U.S. District Court last week ordered the management of Flexjet and Flight Options to negotiate with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, recognize the union’s integrated seniority list (ISL) and rescind a voluntary separation agreement offer.

The union sought the ruling with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District in Cleveland as the operators have been moving to integrate and streamline fleets, with some aircraft models transferring from fractional use to Part 135 and others being retired. As a result, Flexjet and Flight Options had offered voluntary separation agreements to adjust the pilot workforce to future fleet demands. This offer was made without first gaining acceptance by the Teamsters, which represents Flexjet and Flight Options pilots. Meanwhile, the operators had refused to accept the union’s proposed seniority list for an integrated pilot workforce, calling the new list “blatantly unfair.”

In a May 25 ruling, the court cited the “carriers’ curious resistance” to the seniority list and said, “This court finds it difficult to argue that the carriers have any standing to challenge the integration committee’s decision…[The] carriers seem to misunderstand their primary duty in relation to the ISL—it is not a duty to ensure the process is fair and reasonable, but rather a duty to accept the ISL list presented.”

As for the voluntary separation agreement offer, the court determined that “independent of how any separation program plays out, the carriers were required to meet, confer and negotiate with the pilot-certified representative before offering the separation proposal.” As a result, the court said the carriers must rescind the separation agreement offer “and bargain in good faith.”

“The court has sent a clear legal message to Flight Options: stop the anti-union actions against our pilots,” David Bourne, director of the Teamsters Airline Division, said of the decision. “We are ready to negotiate a contract for these workers and the company should come to its senses and do the same.”

Flexjet/Flight Options had not yet provided a comment on the court decision at press time.