Rotorcraft
PHI management begins talks with striking helicopter pilots
In the continuing legal saga involving hundreds of helicopter pilots employed by Lafayette, La.-based PHI, a spokesperson for the pilots’ union told

In the continuing legal saga involving hundreds of helicopter pilots employed by Lafayette, La.-based PHI, a spokesperson for the pilots’ union told AIN on December 12 that the parties have agreed to court-supervised mediation in an attempt to resolve their differences and get the pilots back to work.

On November 27, the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) filed a complaint in federal court accusing PHI of violating the Railway Labor Act by refusing to reinstate striking helicopter pilots who voted November 10 to end a two-month-long strike against PHI. The work stoppage, which at its peak involved nearly half of PHI’s pilots, was the first helicopter pilots’ strike in U.S. history. In its third-quarter financial report released November 9, PHI indicated that 237 of the company’s 565 pilots walked out on September 20.