In the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, the Fort Worth based airline, American Airlines is filing suit against the National Mediation Board. The bankrupt airline is attempting to cut its labor costs, and the Board's decision to allow the airline's passenger service employees to have a union-representation election complicates this plan.

Why AA Is Contesting the Mediation Services Decision

According to representatives of AA in the claim filed on May 2, the National Mediation Board's decision “applied the wrong standard.” Certainly, this decision was made at an inconvenient time for the airline, as it is seeking to void labor contracts with union workers. This is part of their plan for bankruptcy reorganization, and the goal is to cut their annual labor costs by $1.25 billion.

To explain this claim of a “wrong standard,” American Airlines claims that the vast majority of their approximately 10,000 passenger service employees did not provide authorization cards that stated that they were interested in having union-representation elections. These employees represent workers at ticket counters, baggage handlers, and gate workers.

What AA Fears from Union-Representation in Workplace Mediation

It is no secret that American Airlines is trying to cut a substantial amount of money from their annual labor costs. They are also trying to void contracts with unionized workers. Having a passenger services union would undermine both goals.

For one thing, some of the primary concerns among unions are pay scale, benefits, and job retention. These employees would be better able to collectively contest lay offs, pay caps and decreases and push for better benefits in civil mediation. This would effectively undermine many of the ways AA could cut labor costs. Additionally, due to the vast number of passenger services workers, voiding contracts with union workers could easily cause a massive employee shortage, effectively shutting down services and complicating the process of finding non-union replacements.