West Pilots Beat East in US Airways Case

A federal jury ruled Wednesday against pilots from the pre-merger US Airways(symbol Quote), who formed a new labor union in order to reject an arbitrator' s seniority ruling that appeared to favor pilots from America West after the two airlines merged in 2005.

The jury in U.S. District Court in Phoenix ruled that the U.S. Airline Pilots Association breached its duty to represent the six America West pilots who were the plaintiffs in the case.

"All the parties knew going in that selecting an arbitrator and going to arbitration was final and binding on both groups," said Ray Burkett, a six-year America West pilot who was vice chairman of the Las Vegas chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which was ousted by the U.S. Airline Pilots Association (USAPA) in a bitter April 2008 union election. ...