DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - Southwest Airlines has filed a federal lawsuit against its mechanics union, accusing the union of grounding planes unnecessarily.
Southwest has delayed or canceled hundreds of flights since the airline says mechanics started pulling more planes than usual for emergency maintenance.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Dallas. The suit says the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association encouraged workers to write up minor maintenance issues and pull planes out of service to gain leverage in contract negotiations.
AMFA and Southwest have been negotiating a contract for six years. Southwest says mechanics started ordering more emergency maintenance after the latest round of negotiations in February.
The lawsuit says Southwest normally has about 20 jets out of service for unscheduled maintenance. The suit says mechanics ordered 45 planes grounded Tuesday and 51 on Wednesday.
"Drawing from the playbook of other unions, AMFA has attempted to shield its unlawful activity behind an empirically impossible claim that the disruption of Southwest's operations merely reflects an increased focus on Southwest's mechanics on 'safety.' In fact, AMFA itself continues to use the code language 'safety,' 'compliance,' and 'by the book' to hide the nature of its true behavior," the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit says AMFA would cause "irreparable harm" to both the airline and public if the unscheduled maintenance continues.
AMFA has not responded, but a lawyer for the union posted a letter to Southwest February 22, accusing the airline of trying to hide a "degraded maintenance safety culture" behind contract negotiations.
"This is deplorable and represents a real danger to your employees and your passengers," the letter reads.
