Story ID: 
NetJets Pilots Sue Company, Alleging Interference
By: Chad Trautvetter
Caption: Lawsuit alleges that “NetJets Aviation used Twitter to impersonate union members and unlawfully obtained confidential communications."
Word Count: 201
The NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP) filed a lawsuit last week against NetJets Aviation, accusing the fractional provider of interfering with “union and union members’ protected activity in violation of the [Railway Labor Act, RLA].” NJASAP, which represents the approximately 3,000 NetJets pilots, is in protracted contract negotiations with NetJets, as are the unions for the company’s maintenance technicians and flight attendants. NetJets has not responded to AIN’s repeated requests for comment.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court of Ohio, alleges that “NetJets Aviation used Twitter to impersonate union members and unlawfully accessed and obtained confidential communications from the password-protected union Internet message board to weaken and ultimately destroy the union.” In the suit, NJASAP charged that NetJets created an imposter Twitter account to “encourage NJASAP members to violate the RLA’s status quo provisions; bait them to endorse or participate in an unlawful job action; interfere with union procedures for appointing and electing leadership; and threaten to blacklist NJASAP members from other employment if they left NetJets.”

NJASAP's lawsuit calls for the destruction of the confidential information and an injunction barring “further coercion,” as well as monetary damages.