By Max Kutner

Law360 (December 4, 2020, 6:20 PM EST) -- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Airline Division has urged a New York federal court to make Air India Ltd. quickly return employees' salaries to normal levels and pay them back for cuts it made due to COVID-19, seeking immediate relief while a lawsuit over the pay dispute is ongoing.

In a motion for a preliminary injunction Thursday, Teamsters argued that Air India made the cuts while the union and airline were negotiating an amended collective bargaining agreement, so altering ticket and gate agents' salaries violated the Railway Labor Act, meeting the threshold for immediate relief.

"Air India flagrantly violated its obligations under the RLA and triggered what RLA jurisprudence has termed a 'major dispute,' for which the immediate remedy is an injunction to stop further violations and to restore the status quo," Teamsters said in its motion.

The dispute stems from 10% pay cuts that Air India announced in July it would make to employees around the world, according to the union's motion. In the U.S., the airline would cap the cuts at $300 per month, the motion said.

The cuts first appeared in the Teamster members' Nov. 10 paychecks, according to the motion. The union sued the airline about a week later to stop the cuts, but they appeared again in employees' Nov. 25 paychecks.

Because Teamsters and Air India were amid negotiations and mediation, a change to their employment terms or pay could violate federal labor law, the union said in its motion.

"Air India is seeking to impose new contract terms for less pay without exhausting the negotiation and mediation mechanism the RLA prescribes," the union argued. Doing so should be considered a "major dispute" under the law, which can be remedied with an injunction, the motion said.

Teamsters argued that it further meets the threshold for an injunction because the union is likely to prevail on the merits, citing RLA language that "rates of pay, rules, or working conditions shall not be altered by the carrier" until mediation ends, and that the status quo must remain in the meantime.

As the airline industry has faced massive fallout due to a decrease in travel because of COVID-19, litigation has started around topics such as employee pay cuts and terminations and ticket refunds tied to the pandemic.

In a September email to Teamsters, which the union submitted to the court Thursday, Air India's regional manager for the Americas argued that the negotiations did not bar the pay cuts because of the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic. The manager also said the directive had come from company headquarters in India and that employees were lucky the cuts had not started sooner, according to the email.

"The union negotiation comes into effect in case of normal circumstances," the manager, Kamal Roul, said in the email. "Air lndia is struggling to pay salaries and paying it on deferred manner in lndia. Employees in USA region are fortunate till now to get the salaries regularly on due dates even during the cancellation of flights due to COVID-19 situation. This is a case of company's survival."

Roul added in the email that because of "the pandemic situation," the employees should "honor this small pay cut sacrifice with positivity which is an effort for survival."

Teamsters and Air India had been negotiating their amended agreement since 2010 and in mediation since 2013, according to the lawsuit. The November complaint sought preliminary and permanent injunctions.

But Andrew Sal Hoffmann of Hoffmann & Associates, who represents the employees, said the workers needed even faster relief while the litigation was ongoing.

"A normal lawsuit can take a long time and our members have had their wages reduced, which compromises their ability to meet their monthly financial obligations, so we are asking the court on a more emergency basis to issue an injunction now," Hoffman told Law360 Friday.

"Under United States law, they cannot impose wage cuts unilaterally, and apparently no one got that message in India," Hoffman said.

Teamsters represents around 30 Air India clerical and other employees in New York and Chicago, according to the motion.

Representatives for Teamsters and Air India were not immediately available for comment.

The union is represented by Tram Dao Lopresto and Andrew Sal Hoffmann of Hoffmann & Associates.

Counsel information for Air India was not available.

The case is International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Airline Division v. Air India Ltd., case number 1:20-cv-09724, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

--Additional reporting by Michael Angell. Editing by Leah Bennett.

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