Court blocks restraining order request against ABX pilots

A federal court judge on Monday rejected a request by all-cargo aircraft operator ABX Air for a temporary restraining order against its pilots and their union.    A federal court judge on Monday rejected a request by all-cargo aircraft operator ABX Air for a temporary restraining order against its pilots and their union.
   The company sought the restraining order as it attempts to negotiate a new contract with the pilots, who are represented by the Airline Professionals Association of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 1224. ABX Air claims the pilots are threatening to strike and have “orchestrated a ban on voluntary overtime in order to advance their positions in labor negotiations.”
   The pilots contend ABX Air is already stretching them thin by having to accept “emergency assignments.” In fact, the court noted by the end of June 2016, 59 percent of captains and 48 percent of first officers had already “reached or exceeded the six-day limit on emergency assignments.”
   The beleaguered air cargo airline is worried that a strike by its pilots would cause “imminent and irreparable harm,” especially if it takes place during the peak holiday season. ABX provides air transport services to DHL and Amazon.
  Judge Timothy S. Black of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Ohio wrote that he denied the restraining order due to the fact that the “court lacks jurisdiction over plaintiff’s claims because this matter represents a ‘minor dispute’ under the RLA (Railway Labor Act) that must be addressed through dispute resolution procedures before the System Board of Arbitration, as provided for by statute and contract.”
   ABX pilot Rick Ziebarth said the union was pleased with the court’s action.
  “The judge’s decision confirms what ABX Air pilots already know and experience first-hand: ABX and its parent company ATSG are facing a major staffing crisis of their own making and have turned to baseless legal maneuvers rather than working with us to ensure we are adequately staffed to get the job done,” he said in a statement.
   “ABX Air is constantly putting pilots in precarious positions where we are denied earned vacation days and called out on emergency assignments,” Ziebarth added. “In fact, in 2016. while averaging only 225 pilots, we have been scheduled to over 7,000 emergency assignments on days we should have had off.”