Allegiant Air’s flight dispatchers sever ties with Teamsters

David Becker / AP

In this Thursday, May 9, 2013, photo, an airline ground worker guides an incoming Allegiant Air jetliner at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

Allegiant Air’s flight dispatchers have severed ties with the Teamsters, amid a legal battle between the union and the airline over a threatened pilots strike.

The Las Vegas-based discount carrier said its dispatchers have voted for “no representation” by the Teamsters.

Allegiant said the election wrapped up today and was overseen by the National Mediation Board, an independent U.S. agency that referees labor disputes in the railroad and airline industries.

The carrier said it “looks forward to working with the flight dispatchers in a direct relationship with regard to safety, pay and working conditions.”

The no-vote is a victory for Allegiant — albeit a small one — in its heated dispute with the union. The carrier sued the Teamsters in late March to prevent a pilots strike, and Allegiant's majority owner and CEO, Maurice “Maury” Gallagher, reportedly said a few years ago that unionization “is one of those things that clogs the arteries and makes you less quick and not as nimble.”

Allegiant dispatchers voted 15-5 in December 2012 to join Teamsters Local 986. By the end of 2014, Allegiant had the equivalent of 53 full-time dispatchers, a fraction of its roughly 2,400 full-time equivalent workforce at the time, according to a regulatory filing.

Current union-membership totals for dispatchers could not immediately be learned.

Efforts to get a comment from the Teamsters were not immediately successful.

The union on April 1 called a strike for Allegiant’s more than 500 pilots, members of Teamsters Local 1224. But they never walked off the job because a few hours after the strike was announced, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the union, halting the plans.

A judge is expected to rule in coming weeks whether the aviators can legally go on strike.

Allegiant pilots voted in August 2012 to join the Teamsters but still do not have a collective bargaining agreement under the union.

Tags: Business

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