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Pilots ordered back to work
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February 10, 1999: 7:08 p.m. ET
Federal judge pulls the plug on staged sick-out by American Airline pilots
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A federal judge ordered American Airlines pilots back to work Wednesday, pulling the plug on a "sick-out" the pilots had staged to protest salary discrepancies.
U.S. District Judge Joe Kendall made his ruling after the airline sought a temporary restraining order to stop the sick-out.
"It is clear this job action is inappropriate and should stop," Kendall said.
As of 2 p.m. EST, American Airlines said 990 of its flights for Wednesday had been canceled after 2,187 pilots called in sick.
Information was not immediately available on when flights will resume.
Talks break off before ruling
Negotiations to end a 6-day pilot sick-out that grounded more than 2,000 American Airlines flights broke off Wednesday after the carrier went to court to seek a temporary restraining order against the job action.
The two sides had resumed talks Tuesday after they were initially recessed Friday night, when the job action began. The dispute between American and the Allied Pilots Association centered around pay for pilots for Reno Air, the regional carrier acquired late last year by American.
American said 906 flights, or about 40 percent of its daily schedule, were canceled Wednesday - the biggest single day of cancellations so far.
The airline said it had canceled about 1,500 flights between Friday and Tuesday due to a lack of crews; in the same time period for each of the last four years, the carrier says no more than 25 flights have been canceled for personnel reasons.
Through Tuesday, Wall Street analysts estimated that American was losing between $5 million and $10 million a day in canceled flights.
'Substantial' damage
In his ruling, Judge Kendall said he issued the order because it appears American Airlines is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims and because the airline is likely to suffer "substantial and irreparable damage, injury or loss" before a hearing can be scheduled.
American referred passengers to its Web site for information about whether a specific flight was canceled. When there's no information in the "Actual Flight Information" boxes, American said, the flight won't be flown.
The carrier, approaching a peak President's Day weekend travel period that coincides with school vacations, wanted Judge Kendall to issue the temporary restraining order and, eventually, a permanent injunction against the pilots.
American called the job action illegal, saying the union was encouraging pilots not to report to work if they felt stressed by the negotiations or were otherwise ill.
At Wednesday's court hearing, union officials denied they had orchestrated the sick-out, which they referred to as a "self-health" job action.
"This seems to be catching on," Kendall noted about the sick-out, and suggested tongue-in-check that somebody report the outbreak to the Centers for Disease Control.
The pilots were concerned that American wanted to pay less to pilots who fly for Reno Air, the regional carrier acquired late last year. American said it will pay Reno pilots 100 percent of the wages it pays union members once a transition period of up to 18 months is completed; the union was adamant that the American pay be given to Reno Air pilots effective as of the Dec. 23 completion of the acquisition.
"Given the airline's willingness to address the basic issues of concern to APA, there is no reason for this dispute to continue, and we have repeatedly asked the APA to urge its members to return to work for the sake of our customers," American said.
Shares of AMR (AMR), the carrier's parent, closed Wednesday at 56-1/16, up 9/16. 
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