Air Line Pilots Association International

A lawsuit has been filed and is seeking class action status against the union for allegedly failing to pay 1,500 United airline pilots pension benefits. United filed for bankruptcy protection in 2003 and shed its defined benefit pension plans to return profitability and replaced them with less expensive 401K retirement funds. United paid out $545.5 million in 2005 to active pilots, but pilots who were furloughed and then recalled in 2006, got nothing. The lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Portland and alleges the Air Line Pilots Association International failed to pay temporarily dismissed United pilots their pension benefits.