Union says USAirways skirted arbitration rule

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, February, 2007 | by Tom Belden

The International Association of Machinists has filed a federal lawsuit accusing US Airways of using bankruptcy law to avoid an arbitration case stemming from a union grievance.

US Airways Group Inc. last week filed a complaint against the union, which represents airline mechanics and baggage handlers, asking U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria, Va., to block an arbitration hearing that was scheduled to start Monday.

The union lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, asserts that US Airways should not be allowed to use the Bankruptcy Court to shield itself from its obligations under the Railway Labor Act to resolve collective-bargaining disputes. US Airways spent just over a year in Bankruptcy Court protection before emerging Sept. 27, 2005, when...