COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In
an amended complaint filed today in the United States District
Court for the Southern District of Ohio, NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft
Pilots (NJASAP), a labor Union representing approximately 2,700
pilots employed by NetJets, Inc., accused the Berkshire Hathaway
(BRK.A and BRK.B) subsidiary of engaging in an unlawful campaign to
intimidate pilots and ultimately destroy the Union through a wide
variety of anti-union activities. NetJets provides business and
leisure travel on private luxury business jets to its wealthy
customers.
"NetJets's union-busting conduct is straight out of the gutter,"
NJASAP President Pedro Leroux said.
"Our lawsuit accuses management of not only attacking its own pilot
force, but also mocking working people who lost their jobs at other
companies and ridiculing honest, hard-working people in the service
and construction industries who have done absolutely nothing to
deserve this abuse."
The Union originally sued NetJets in December over alleged
violations of the federal Railway Labor Act and the Stored
Communications Act. The former statute governs labor relations in
the air and railroad industries while the latter imposes civil and
criminal penalties for Internet privacy violations. The lawsuit
accuses the Columbus-based
Berkshire Hathaway company of unlawfully obtaining Union members'
private communications, conducting surveillance of legally
protected Union activities, threatening to blacklist Union
supporters and unlawfully retaliating against Union members as part
of a campaign to cripple NJASAP.
The amended complaint now alleges NetJets further threatened
pilots by repeatedly referring to thousands of job losses at
Hostess Brands, Inc., after the iconic producer of snack cakes went
bankrupt in 2012, implying that the same fate awaited them. The
company went so far as to hang Hostess Twinkie snack cakes on the
walls of its corporate offices.
The Union also accuses NetJets of posting statements on social
media that demonstrate a virulent hatred of labor unions generally
and the pilots' Union specifically, including, "Remember the
Hostess motto: Sweetest Comeback Ever," "Not everyone can be a
[NetJets] pilot … The country needs retail workers, dishwashers
ditch diggers, and the laborers," "See you in hell," "#NJASAP
#HITLER" and that Union pilots will "succeed in becoming another
footnote in the shameful history of Teamster labor." The recent
filing contains new charges concerning management repeatedly
breaking into the Union pilots' private, password-protected message
board, which the Union refers to as its "Virtual Union Hall."
"Our lawsuit describes an arrogant company that is operating
outside the boundaries of the law and basic decency," Leroux said.
"Warren Buffett occasionally speaks
up about inequality and the plight of the middle class, however, if
the allegations about NetJets mocking working people who have lost
their jobs at other companies and ridiculing tens of millions of
Americans in the service and construction industries are true,
NetJets is making Buffett look like a hypocrite."
The Union is now engaging in court discovery with both NetJets
and social media outlets and plans to put members of senior NetJets
management under oath in the spring. "We believe the lawsuit will
document a systematic effort to violate NetJets pilots' rights
under federal law, and we have every intention of exposing all the
individuals behind this attack," Leroux said. The Union is seeking
a court order to prevent NetJets from further intruding into its
confidential Union message board, punitive damages for its
corporate misconduct and other relief.
About NJASAP Founded in 2008 as an independent labor
organization, the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots
(NJASAP) represents the professional interests of the 2,700-plus
pilots who fly in the service of NetJets Aviation, Inc. For more
information, visit us at www.njasap.com or
www.facebook.com/njasap.
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SOURCE NJASAP