The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has sued to block what it considers an illegal agreement between the Frontier Airlines Pilots Association and Frontier Airlines and parent company Republic Airways.
In a U.S. District Court lawsuit filed Wednesday in Denver, the Teamsters contend Frontier and Republic Airways conspired to interfere with a union-representation election in exchange for FAPA agreeing to concessions for Frontier pilots.
The June 27 election, which was held by the National Mediation Board, was to choose one organization to represent all the pilots flying for Republic’s subsidiaries. The Teamsters won the election, beating out FAPA and two other unions.
After losing $55 million in the first quarter this year, Republic Airways devised a $120 million program to restructure Frontier’s finances.
On June 17, the Frontier pilots voted in favor of a concession package that is considered pivotal in restructuring the financially troubled airline.
In exchange, the pilots will receive an equity stake and profit-sharing plan. As part of the deal, Republic is securing new investments and acquiring new aircraft for Frontier with the goal of the Denver-hubbed airline becoming a stand-alone company.
Republic also is working on becoming a minority owner by the end of 2014.
The deal struck by Frontier, Republic and FAPA “gave concessions in exchange for Frontier agreeing to help FAPA perpetuate itself at Frontier” no matter how the representation election turned out, said David Bourne, the Teamsters’ airline-division director.
Frontier spokesman Peter Kowalchuk said company officials had not seen the suit and could not comment. However, Kowalchuk added that “if the allegation is that we interfered in any way with the conduct of the single-representation election, that is patently not true.”
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
