Army of Leonidas, West Pilots
2007. After the merger, during the organization phase of USAPA, the former America West Pilots, formed a group to legally defend their pilots and the Nicolau arbitration award, AWAPPA(America West Pilots Protective Association).
AWAPPA, and 18 west pilots, were sued by USAPA under federal RICO laws within one month of Usapa winning the NMB election. USAPA vs AWAPPA The RICO lawsuit was dismissed, by a federal district court in North Carolina. USAPA appealed that decision. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's ruling against Usapa. USAPA vs AWAPPA 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Because of the controversy surrounding AWAPPA's involvement in the RICO law suit and the former America West pilots conduct at that time, the West pilots formed a new organization, Leonidas, LLC.
The new group representing the former West pilots, Army of Leonidas, were involved in a controversy involving the alleged transfer of East pilots personal data. In 2009, a former Chief pilot for America West Airlines, allegedly acquired East pilots identity information from US Airways company computers and handed it over to Leonidas representatives. Included in this alleged breach of data were some social security and passport numbers. US Airways offered the East pilots one free year of LifeLock identity theft protection. In March 2011, US Airways put the former Chief Pilot and two other former America West pilots on paid administrative leave. Pilot union says US Airways employee leaked personal data of 3,000 pilots article. The former America West Pilots were given a 30 day suspension by US Airways for their involvement in the data breech even though they were exonerated by the external investigation. At a Crew News event, US Airways CEO Doug Parker admitted that the three pilots did nothing wrong but they needed to be punished for costing the company money. It is widely believed that the suspension will be overturned at arbitration. In addition, the West pilots used their continued unity to voluntarily compensate the three pilots for any lost income.
Read more about this topic: US Airline Pilots Association
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